Romney clears way for McCain

The decision by Mitt Romney to suspend his presidential campaign all but ends the race in the Republican Party and makes John McCain its presumptive nominee.

Romney, 60, left the race for a number of reasons, one of which was to keep his future options open.

Had he refused to accept the seeming inevitability of McCain's nomination, he risked dimming his prospects for a 2012 candidacy, should McCain lose in the fall.

Romney spent more than $40 million of his own money on his campaign, as much as any major-party candidate has ever spent.

Thanks to his investment, he made himself a well-known figure across the country. He did not make himself the Republican nominee, at least not this year.

The former Massachusetts governor announced his departure yesterday during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. There was some irony in the choice of venue, since Romney tried and failed to make himself the conservative standard-bearer.

In his speech, Romney said that his staying in the race would serve only to prolong the Republican contest and make a Democratic victory in the fall more likely.

"If this were only about me, I would go on," he said. "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, who did not endorse anyone yesterday, said that a Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama presidency was not acceptable. "I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," he said.

McCain, speaking to the same group several hours later, congratulated Romney on running "an energetic and dedicated" campaign.

"We agreed to sit down together," McCain said, "and we agreed on the importance of uniting our party."

The two other GOP candidates - former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul - indicated that they would stay in the race. But they are far behind in the delegate count and have little chance of blocking McCain.

"This is a two-man race for the nomination, and I am committed to marching on," Huckabee said.

McCain has 707 delegates, more than half of the 1,191 needed to win. Romney has 294, Huckabee 195, Paul 14.

One of the main factors in why Romney failed in his quest was his inability to convince voters who consider themselves conservatives first and Republicans second - particularly those who care most about social issues - that he, not Huckabee, should be their man.

A central reason for the failure was that Romney hadn't always sounded or acted like a conservative earlier in his political career. In 1994, in a Senate race in Massachusetts, he campaigned as a relatively liberal Republican. From 2003 through 2006, as governor, he was seen as a pragmatic problem-solver.

Along the way, he switched from pro-abortion-rights to antiabortion and altered his views on immigration and other matters, allowing opponents to depict him as a flip-flopper.

At one point, McCain said that Romney had been "entirely consistent. He's consistently taken at least two sides of very issue."

During the debates, all of his Republican rivals seemed to take special delight in going after him.

From the outset of the campaign, Romney, thanks to his fund-raising prowess and his willingness to tap into his personal wealth, was a dominant presence.

He ran an early-state strategy, hoping to win the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. He led in those two states for most of 2007.

But Huckabee caught Romney in Iowa, largely on the support of evangelical Christians and other social conservatives. Then McCain caught him in New Hampshire.

Romney's second-place finishes in those two states were the unmaking of his strategy, although he gained new life by winning in Michigan, his birthplace, on Jan. 15.

Two weeks later, though, he lost in Florida, severely diminishing his chances.

He hung on through Super Tuesday. He was energized by polls that showed him gaining in California, by conservative talk-show hosts who were desperate to stop McCain, and by the electorate's increasing focus on economic issues - which he thought worked to his benefit.

As a highly successful businessman, Romney often said: "Sen. McCain says the economy is not his strong suit. Well, it is my strong suit."

On Super Tuesday, he won seven states, most of them small. But he lost California, the one he needed.

At the conservative conference yesterday, Romney upstaged McCain, who had some fence-mending to do.

Over the years, the Arizona senator has broken ranks with conservatives on a number of issues, such as tax cuts and campaign finance; many movement leaders distrust him.

McCain, who received a reception that ranged from polite to enthusiastic, was jeered when he talked about his position on immigration reform.

"We have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won't continue to have a few," McCain told the crowd. "But even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives."

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