Breaking news: Mitt Romney endorsing John McCain
Actually, you could have seen this coming. When Mitt Romney announced he was suspending his presidential campaign, he was looking to the fall and said a prolonged (and, unstated, fruitless) fight for the nomination would give an advantage to the Democrats. So he pulled the plug.
That explanation didn't make it likely he'd be throwing his support behind Mike Huckabee. And he won't. The campaign announced a few minutes ago that he'll hold a news conference at his Boston headquarters at 1 p.m. PST to announce his endorsement of John McCain.
(UPDATE: So what does this mean? Well, the campaigns at this point all come down to delegates, and if Romney's delegates wind up in McCain's column, Huckabee might as well stay in the Cayman Islands.)
The GOP nominee needs 1,191 delegates. McCain has 843, and with Romney's 280, that would set up McCain to seal the nomination in the March 4 primaries. And despite their acrimonious attacks and counterattacks during the campaign, Romney can claim credit for essentially bringing the nomination fight to an end. That kind of favor is likely to get repaid if McCain wins the White House.
-- Scott Martelle
Don Frederick has served as an editor helping guide coverage of every presidential election since 1984. He is a third-generation Washingtonian, so watching the political world comes naturally to him.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000.
Subscribe to this Blog
Check your numbers via the individual state GOP web pages. The nubmers you quote are completely inaccurate.
Posted by: Tannim | February 15, 2008 at 03:26 PM
With all due respect McCain gave allot for his country, but I believe imprisonment affect this fine individual. He would be one hell of inspirational leader at the Alamo leading his men thru the annals of History. But we lost! and I want my country to survive and to bring about a new way of life, If Mr McCain wants to go down FIGHTING with John Wayne inside the Alamo fine with me, but we ain't coming!!
Posted by: frank carter | February 18, 2008 at 10:48 AM