Officially, he’s only “suspended” his campaign — like John Edwards did last week — but, effectively, Mitt Romney dropped out of the Presidential race today:
(CNN) — Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would “forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win.”
“In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror. This is not an easy decision. I hate to lose,” the former Massachusetts governor said.
“If this were only about me, I’d go on. But it’s never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country.”
Romney made the announcement Thursday afternoon at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Romney had won 270 delegates in through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with front-runner John McCain’s 680.
The effect of suspension is slightly different for Republicans than Democrats:
On the Republican side, decisions on how to allocate delegates is left to the state parties.
On the Democratic side, a candidate who “suspends” is technically still a candidate, so he or she keeps both district and statewide delegates won through primaries and caucuses. Superdelegates are always free to support any candidate at any time, whether the candidate drops out, suspends or stays in.
National party rules say that a candidate who “drops out” keeps any district-level delegates he or she has won so far but loses any statewide delegates he or she has won.
On the whole, it was a wise move for Romney. He wasn’t going to win anyway and, by dropping out now, he allows the Republicans to start focusing on a national campaign at a time when the Democrats are still fighting over who their nominee will be, and may continue doing so until the Pennsylvania primary on April 22nd, if not longer. He wouldn’t have made any friends in the Party by staying in and possibly wounding McCain, and by getting behind the nominee he sets himself up quite well for another try in 2012 or 2016, depending on how the November elections go.
And, oh yeah, Huckabee will be out by the weekend.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Hey Mitt:
Whats the return on investment on that $60 million of your own money you spent on your campaign, Mr. Business man? Probably not a good one!
February 14th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
[...] week, Mitt Romney dropped out of the Presidential race in a speech at [...]
May 7th, 2008 at 11:00 am
[...] Romney looked at the numbers, including personal wealth far greater than Clinton, and decided to do the smart thing. [...]