February 07, 2008
Romney Ends White House Bid 'For Country, Party'
Speaking before a roomful of conservative activists in Washington, Mitt Romney drew his presidential campaign to a close.
"This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose," Romney said before an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country."
Romney was announcing the suspension of his campaign -- a technical term that allows him to keep raising funds -- two days after a deeply disappointing performance on Super Tuesday. John McCain has won 13 of the states that have held primaries or caucuses so far, and Romney is close behind with 11. But McCain's wins in big-prize states like California on Tuesday gave him a nearly insurmountable delegate-count lead. With Mike Huckabee strongly defending his turf in the South, it became impossible on Wednesday morning to see how Romney could overtake the Arizona senator.
"I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden and on eliminating al-Qaida and terror," Romney said. "If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator [Hillary Rodham] Clinton or [Barack] Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."
The crowd let its disappointment be known, booing Romney's decision to bow out and pleading with him to hang on. But the politically tuned-in CPAC attendees know better than anyone that their guy has virtually no shot at the Republican nomination.
McCain skipped the conference last year because he had no support there. He's scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. today, and now that Romney's out, will ride in as the Republican nominee. We got a preview of how he'll be received, courtesy of talk-radio host Laura Ingraham.
"I don't think it's enough to say you were a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. The question is, what have you been doing for conservatism lately?" she said during Romney's introduction. McCain has been calling himself Reagan's foot soldier in his quest to make nice with the conservative base. But it's clear from the crowd reaction to Ingraham's remark that much of the base isn't buying it.
We'll be on the ground to report on how CPAC's attendees treat McCain. Expect a preview later this afternoon and full write-up tomorrow.
Romney's decision to end his bid may have been driven in part by finances. Before becoming governor of Massachusetts, Romney earned his wealth in management consulting and venture capitalism. He's lent millions to his presidential campaign, and after his losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and California, it became clear he wasn't getting a return on his investment.
It's not clear what role Romney would play in a McCain campaign. The two have lobbed bitter exchanges at the other for months, and Romney has most recently taken to calling McCain a fraud of a conservative, a charge McCain then threw back at him. Neither McCain nor Huckabee care for Romney very much, as both were on the receiving end of negative ads and mailing blitzes from the Romney camp.
To the audience at CPAC, Romney said, "I will continue to stand for conservative principles. I will fight alongside you for all the things we believe in. And one of those things is that we cannot allow the next president of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism."
CPAC is ground zero for American conservative activism, and when the then-largely unknown Romney won the conference's straw poll last March, it was a strong endorsement for what would eventually be the thesis of his candidacy: He was the strongest-performing true conservative of the Republican field. There were questions about the more liberal positions he'd previously held on abortion and gay rights, to be sure, but if the contest came down to Romney, Rudy Giuliani or McCain, Romney was the only choice.
There will be questions about why Romney is choosing today to end his bid, two days after his disappointing Super Tuesday performance. But it's fairly obvious. The candidate of the conservative base went before the conservative base to admit there's little point to keeping his campaign going, just a couple of hours before the bugbear of American conservativism, McCain, tries to kiss and make up with CPAC's activists. McCain is expected to stress party unity during his address, and as the GOP front-runner, he's in a position to do so. But it will undoubtedly be a painful day for CPAC's attendees.
Besides the fact that he is ending his bid, there was one other newsworthy moment in Romney's speech: "It is past time for us to invest in energy technology, nuclear power, clean coal, liquid coal, renewable sources and energy efficiency. America must never be held hostage by the likes of Putin, Chavez and Ahmadinejad."
This country used to see Russian President Vladimir Putin as a kindred spirit in the war on terror. Romney just added him to the U.S. enemies list. McCain has also been critical of Putin, but as far as we can tell has yet to lump him in with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Posted at 1:32 PM
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Campaigns, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, WH 2008
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