BOSTON - Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney is supsending his presidential campaign, effectively ceding the Republican nomination to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Thursday, Romney talked of Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama retreating in Iraq and declaring defeat.
He then told the crowd he disagrees with McCain on a number of issues, but that he'd given the mater a lot of thought and if he fought on all the way to the Republican convention, " I forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I'd be makign it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."
Romney added, "If this were only about me, I can go on. But its never been only about me. I entered this race... because I love America, and because I love America, in thsi time of war, i feel I now have to stand aside, for our party and for our country."
The former Massachusetts Republican governor has been seriously trailing McCain in the delegate count since Super Tuesday.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., remains in the race but trails Romney in the delegate counts.
This is huge. With Romney out, McCain is now the GOP nominee. He can start running a national campaign, attacking both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the rest of the primary states. Mike Huckabee is still the race, but there is no way for Huckabee to win the nomination. Huckabee can still play a nuisance to the McCain campaign, but ultimately the fractured GOP is going to have to rally around the McCain nomination. And that is still going to be troublesome for both the McCain campaign and for the conservatives who still despise McCain.
There is more to come on this story.
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