Breaking News: Romney quits; McCain now likely GOP nominee

Facing the political reality of an almost certain nomination victory by Sen. John McCain -- and vowing to return to politics -- former Gov. Mitt Romney formally dropped out of the GOP race for president minutes ago.

Clearly, Romney had been pondering this decision for days, as reported in detail here Monday. Despite large boldfaced vows to continue the fight for months, aides say he reached a tentative conclusion with his wife Ann to quit last night, but decided to sleep on it before making it formal today.

In Washington, where he advanced his well-financed but at-the-time little-known run about 10 months ago before the same CPAC group of conservatives, the 60-year-old Romney said all the right words in a speech to....

demonstrate his party loyalty and conservative credentials and to set the stage for his continued political presence in the future after the time of the now-presumptive nominee, McCain, who is 71.

"I look forward to joining you," he said, smiling, "many, many times in the future."

"I know you're with me all the way to the convention just as Ronald Reagan did in 1976," Romney said to his band of supporters within the larger Conservative Political Action Committee audience. They cheered. "But there's an important difference from 1976." They groaned. "We are at war....If this were only about me, I'd go on. But it's never been about me."

He said, "Barack and Hillary want to retreat." Boos. "Now, you know," he added, "I disagree with Sen. McCain on a number of issues. But I agree with him on the need to do whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq and to find and execute Osama bin Laden."

Romney had campaigned hard, even making a long, last-minute transcontinental flight on the eve of Super Tuesday for a 10-minute speech in Long Beach when internal polling showed his immigration attacks on McCain were working in California.

But while he drew many votes, under party rules, Romney lost 49 of the state's 53 congressional district to McCain, likely the nail in the coffin of the ex-governor's efforts. He held a full budget and staffing review Wednesday, as forecast here, and from that came his decision.

In his speech today, Romney noted he had gathered about 4 million primary votes to McCain's 4.7 million and 11 states to McCain's 13. "But because size does matter, he's doing a lot better with delegates," Romney added. To continue the party nomination struggle to the convention, the former governor said, would only delay launching the eventual nominee's national campaign.

Appearing vigorous and energetic, unlike the sometimes robotic speaking style he displayed on the campaign trail, Romney said: "Because I love America, I feel I must stand aside."

In a strange twist, his step leaves Rep. Ron Paul, the former Libertarian Party candidate, as the third-ranking active GOP presidential candidate.

Technically, Romney suspended his campaign, which keeps ownership of his hardwon delegates under his control. But his campaign, which involved $35.5 million of the candidate's own personal fortune and more than $55 million donated by others, is over. And the pressure will now mount on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who's even farther behind McCain, to end his hopeless effort too, possibly later today.

And there's pressure on McCain, who speaks to the same group later today but whose conservative bona fides -- he voted against the Bush tax cuts twice, co-wrote the McCain-Feingold finance reform bill and last spring favored with President Bush a much more liberal immigration reform bill -- are viewed much more suspiciously by many party conservatives.

McCain can take a major step toward party unity today -- he needs to gain support from the GOP's conservative wing without worrying moderate and independent supporters. His words will be crucial and careful. And although his advance text does not contain any reference to Romney, McCain will have to acknowledge him gracefully somehow.

While Romney did not heap much praise on McCain, he did display an abundance of party loyalty and vow to continue to fight for conservative principles, which he outlined and said included strong moral values, protection of the family, fiscal conservatism and finally addressing the mounting entitlement budget challenge and the issue of energy dependence on foreign countries.

Above all, he called for a larger, stronger military defense of 4% of gross domestic product. It was all red meat for his conservative audience and, according to the Republicans' historic tradition of primogenitor, Romney quietly stepped into line as a likely candidate to inherit the party's leadership someday, if McCain loses come November.

Watch now as Romney, who is not well-known among many party loyalists across the country, campaigns vigorously for national and local candidates in coming months and years of Lincoln Day dinners to establish the kind of longterm familiarity, comfort and political debts as McCain and before him Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Sen. Bob Dole and Rep. Gerald Ford did to earn their ultimate top nominations.

Romney might even be considered a possible vice presidential or Cabinet pick for McCain, who will need a strong, younger partner to run with, one who, given McCain's age--he would be the oldest man to become president at 72 next January --could appear capable of stepping in immediately as chief executive.

And one who crucially, like Romney, Huckabee or Florida's popular Gov. Charlie Crist is from outside Washington (and helped McCain politically during the current campaign).

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Keith Henderson]

Not surprising. One has to wonder, though, how long Huckabee will stay in the race now. He was repeatedly asked whether he was just setting a pick on Romney to get a spot in the McCain ticket or administration, and he repeatedly assured voters that he would compete until the end. I'm curious to see which way it goes.

Unfortunately, I have to voice my first complaint about this blog. When I read this sentence,

"Romney might even be considered a possible vice presidential pick for McCain, who will need a strong, younger partner to run with, one who, given McCain's age--he would be the oldest man to become president at 72 next January --could appear capable of stepping in immediately as chief executive.",

my copy of _Elements of Style_ stood up, walked out of my office and hurled itself into oncoming traffic. Then it burst into flame and jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. For what it's worth, I acknowledge that this is a pot-kettle-black criticism. But I don't get paid to journalize ;)

[Keith]

Well, I guess I had better start following Barack now. No way in H you will ever get my vote, Senator McCain.

[Fastbusysignal]

if a candiate like Mccain has 600 delegates now and he doesn't reach 1192 most of the delegates the state awarded him mean nothing and keep in mind in most of the states most of the people that represent the 600 for Mccain are actually Ron Paul supporters. NOW there is no possible way that anyone in the race can achieve this goal now because of the major split in state wins by the candidates.
Normally Convention Delegates do not matter because the convention is not brokered and we have a clear winner. BUT THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT. This will be a brokered convention there is no way around it. Do you see how the ronpaul campaign strategy will work?
So please STOP you worry too much because you do not understand how the election system works and you thought we lost didn't you?
The fact is Dr. Paul is a genius in his strategy and we are further ahead in delegates than you think and we can win the nomination.
I hope this gives y'all a better understanding of how we have been winning even though most of you thought we were not.
NOW LET'S KEEP WORKING!
Thanks for witholding valuable information malcolm (typical scribe-worthless)

[Vince Schroeder]

This Romney brand didn't sell, okay? Neither was it vetted properly. When he was Governor of the first and only Pro-Gay state of the Union, it became well known that he was so personally fond of the Right to Choose Abortion, nor did he stand up to Gay Marriage - it became law under his watch. The Pro_life people had been sold fools gold by him, and the Church and Family were irreparably hurt bu him - he didn't care - it was ONLY about his own petty career. With time, the Romney brand will look even worse than it is now, because he was never a sincere Conservative - sincerity just wasn't his forte.

[KYJurisDoctor]

Bye-bye, Flip Flopper Mitt Romney. We hardly knew you -- or your sorry attempts to buy the Presidency!!

http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2008/02/breaking-news-mitt-romney-will-bow-out.html#linksk

[Tannim]

Romney's exit is surprising, to say the least. He could have stayed in to the bitter end.

But I've also heard that his committed delegates now fall back to the state parties (at least that's what Reuters is reporting).

Huckabee may or may not drop, hard to say. If he does then it's finally Main Event time, Paul vs. McCain, and then the fun really starts.

Remember two things:
1) McCain has not gotten his matching funds yet and he probably won't. The commission that disburses those funds does not have a quorum to meet, and with 3 of the 5 seats on that commission not filled and the Senate Democrats sitting on the BUsh appointees for those spots, that quorum and therefore the disbursements aren't going to happen anytime soon. Meanwhile Dr. Paul still has a bunch of debt-free cash on hand. Hucakbee is low on funds, but he's also low on debt and has made a campaign out of living off the land.

2) Follow the delegates, and not the popular votes or the MSM projections. There are a lot of uncommitted delegates out there, and the MSM projections of committed delegates are way off (they list Dr. Paul as having 14, when he has closer to 42) because they don't undertand the process and don't take the time to learn, so they project based on popular vote totals. They're not accurate. This is the nuts and bolts of how the nomination is made, folks, not what the MSM is reporting. McCain does not have enough committed delegates to avoid a brokered convention.

Things really get interesting from here out. The preliminaries are over, we're into the semifinals. Dr. Paul has gone from one of 11 to 1 of 3, and there's still 21 states plus DC still out there. With Romney dropping, Dr. Pauls claims Montana and Nevada as caucus wins to go with his real win in Louisiana.

Remember the kind of deal-cutting that Paul and Huckabee did in West Virginia as well. You'll see more of that to block McCain in the same way they blocked Romney.

This is getiing FUN now!

[JimBob]

What happens now. Well, one thing we can be sure won't happen now is Mitt's many sons signing up to go fight in that noble cause called Iraq.
And excuse me, did he say he was dropping out because he loves his country? Seems to me he dropped out because his country doesn't love HIM.
One less reason to spend the campaign season vomiting, if you ask me.

[Stine]

Today’s “Republicans” are fools. They don’t even know what they stand for. Small government, low taxes, lots of personal freedom? Not our Republicans! How about big brother, tax cuts for corporations, and spending, yes, lots of spending. That’s what today’s “Republican party” is all about.

There is one man who hasn’t lost his way. Like the idea of lower taxes? Ron Paul is ready to abolish the IRS, the Federal Reserve, and return our currency to a gold standard. How will our huge government function without our illegally collected income taxes? Simple, it won’t be a huge government - it will be a small, constitutionally limited government. I was a democrat, so I don’t know, am I sounding Republican here?

America became the most prosperous nation on Earth through low taxes and a limited government. Now, if we leave the current Republicans OR Democrats to continue on this failed course of action it’ll cost 40 bucks to buy a bottle of water.

Big government doesn’t work - the FDA can’t protect people from harmful food or drugs, Social Security is going to be broke soon, government managed healthcare is a disaster, FEMA - need I go on?

Ron Paul can save the GOP. Ron Paul will MOP THE FLOOR with either Hillary or Barak. But if he isn’t their choice then, ironically, the GOP will disappear just like the Whigs - the very party their fresh ideas challenged and were successful against.

If you love America and the Constitution it was founded on, you owe it to your soul to go check out Dr. Paul.

RON PAUL REVOLUTION! www.ronpaul2008.com

[sean truitt]

. . .and then there were three. this is getting fun! how on earth will the media not mention ron paul when it's down to two? after this cycle i expect to see two things: the fracture of the republican party (c'mon, we've known for years they've lost their way) and the calling-out of the mainstream media for election-tampering.
cheers!

[Wendy73]

People, you have misunderstood Mitt Romney for an entire year. Someday you will come to see the strength of this amazing man. America just lost a Founding Father type person. George Washington would have endorsed him, as would have so many of the great ones that have gone before us. Romney’s loss is not a reflection on the man, it is a reflection on the American people. We live here and we will all die here, but the road ahead is not a very pretty one. Mitt Romney would have made our experience more enjoyable.

[Cameron Flynn, Redondo Beach]

Romney said to do whatever it takes to "find and execute Osama Bin Laden." He clearly does not get the intricacies of foreign policy, and should not be running... so him leaving the race is great news.

How about this... let's make OBL irrelevant. If we martyr Osama, it will only serve to embolden his followers and he will quickly be replaced. If Al Qaeda has no reason to fight us anymore (like, we don't have bases on their holy land anymore), he will be an irrelevant man with no more cause than a couch potato.

I say we first concentrate on fixing our broken foreign policy that pisses so many people off, let Al Qaeda fall apart as an effective organization, then kill the bastard!

Radical Islamic terrorists are like a nest of bees. Touch their nest, and they will come out to sting you. If you sedate them with smoke, they won't come after you because they have chilled out. We are making Al Qaeda angrier with our hedonistic actions (thirst for oil, etc), so maybe we... are wrong? Now that is a controversial thought, but at least I am brave enough to put that out there.

Even though he has extremely little chance of picking up enough delegates to win, Ron Paul is right on foreign policy and should be listened to. His foreign policy would be a win win for everyone. Save U.S. lives, stop pissing off the natives of other countries, stop going after foreign resources, let the free markets work (which will result in better technology), and save a ton of money.

[Keith]

"keep in mind in most of the states most of the people that represent the 600 for Mccain are actually Ron Paul supporters"

Huh? Then why didn't RP get the vote in the first place?

You RP people are just loopy with your logic. RP is dust.

[ILoveFreedom]

Congressman Ron Paul is still running. He's also a conservative! You should give him a try.

(You've really got to read this blog more regularly. We've mentioned Ron Paul many times. Click on his name in the subject cloud to the right here. Also look at Friday morning's postings, 2/8. Thanks for reading.)