Not like I made my mind up yet.... but fuck, this hardly leaves any options I can conscientiously make... FFS!
Mitt Romney will drop out of the Republican presidential race during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday, FOX News has confirmed.
Romney is “suspending” his campaign and will say so “during his speech,” a top aide told FOX News.
The news was sure to come as a blow to the CPAC audience, who appeared largely unaware of the former Massachusetts governor’s plan in the minutes before his speech.
But Romney would have been hard-pressed to continue his campaign. He has steadily lost ground over the past few weeks to John McCain, whose victories on Super Tuesday made a comeback for Romney extremely difficult. He also spent an estimated $35 million of his own money to fund the increasingly longshot bid. By suspending rather than quitting he will be able to contine to collect donations from contributors.
In remarks prepared for delivery to the conservative group, Romney said if he prolonged his bid, it would hurt the party and McCain’s ability to defeat the Democratic nominee.
“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) 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,” he said.
“This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters, many of you right here in this room have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming president. 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 continued. “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 evil extremism.”
McCain is leading Romney by more than 3-1 in the delegate count, 703-293, and Romney had also been losing ground to Mike Huckabee, who picked up nearly as many victories as he did on Super Tuesday.
“One of the biggest barriers to Mitt Romney becoming the nominee was Mike Huckabee,” Time magazine writer Mark Halperin, who was first to break the news, told FOX News. “I don’t think Huckabee stands much of a chance to overtake McCain either, but he certainly stood in Mitt Romney’s way.”
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