Romney Drops Presidential Bid

"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.

Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama saw Romney as a vulnerable candidate that they would rather run against instead of McCain, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley said.

"They were looking at Mitt Romney as pretty doable in the political sense saying, 'This is a guy that has a record that we can really run with' and they ran with it in the Republican Party as you know, saying that he used to be pro-choice, now he's anti-abortion. He has changed his position on stem cells he has changed his position on gay unions, that sort of thing," she 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 Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney will say at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington

Mitt Pulling Out?
Posted by BLAKE DVORAK | E-Mail This | Permalink | Email Author

From a guy who would be able to determine such things, NRO's Byron York is seeing some signs:

We are beginning to see signs that Mitt Romney might be preparing to pull out of the Republican race.

Everyone is looking for tea leaves from the campaign, and we'll know more about the governor's state of mind when we hear from him at CPAC today. But in the last 24 hours, I have noticed a dramatic drop-off in the number of emails I have received from Team Romney. This is no small thing. Every reporter will tell you they receive reams of emails from the Romney campaign. But the last one I got was at 1:47 p.m. yesterday, advising me of Romney's campaign schedule in Maryland. Before that, I last received on at 8:37 a.m., advising me of Romney's CPAC speech.

Normally in that time period, I would have received lots of emails telling me, among other things, that John McCain's Straight Talk Express had taken a detour. For example, I would have expected to receive one about McCain's "calm down" remark. But nothing from the Romney camp. I wondered whether the campaign is dialing back its aggressiveness in preparation for a Romney withdrawal.

A few moments ago, I spoke to someone in the Romney camp. Would I be crazy to read that into the email traffic? "You would not be crazy to read that into it," he said. "There have been a lot of discussions going on about whether there is a path to victory, and not wanting to look destructive at what might be the end. You are reading the right thing into it."

 

Here's the thing about Romney's chances: It's next to impossible for him to win the delegate race. To get to the needed 1,191 delegates to win the nomination, Romney would have to win almost every delegate from here on out. But there are only three winner-take-out primaries left: Virginia and D.C. on Feb. 12 and Vermont on March 4. And even then, assuming Romney won all three, that would only net him 99 delegates.

Romney's folks have put out the word that the campaign's hopes rest on Ohio and Texas, a total of 222 delegates. But again, both of those allot delegates proportionally.

Romney expected to suspend campaign

From news services
Published on: 02/07/08

WASHINGTON — Repulican Mitt Romney is expected to suspend his struggling presidential campaign today, according to published reports.

CNN, citing three unidentified GOP sources, said the condidate would make the announcement at the Conservative Political Action conference in Washington.

Time magazine's online political blog and the Associated Press also announce that Romney was putting aside his campaign.

Onl Wednesday the former Massachusetts governor said he would press aheaqd with his longshot campaign.

After the Super Tuesday primaries, Romney had 294 delegates to the Republican National Convention; 1,191 are needed to become the party's nominee.

BC-USA-POLITICS/ROMNEY (URGENT)
Romney to suspend campaign for US president -CNN
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Mitt Romney will suspend his
campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. president, CNN
said on Thursday, citing three party sources.
(Reporting by Philip Barbara)

Mitt Romney is suspending his Presidential campaign.

Halperin: Romney to Quit Race

Looks like Romney's about to pull out of the race for president. He's about to speak to the CPAC convention.

CNN is repoting, via "three sources" that say Romney will suspend his campaign. Times has the news up as well, but still no full story. More here. So, this means the Republicans have the choice of a true conservative and a 'fake' maverick? Wow. I wonder how principled they will be?

Romney Considering Dropping Out, Sources Say

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is considering whether to pull out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to sources within his inner circle.

A number of those sources said a decision is actively being discussed and could happen as soon as his speech at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference this afternoon. But, none could offer a firm statement that the race for Romney was at an end and no final decision had been reached.

Romney was set to do a call with his finance committee just before addressing the conservative gathering.