According to the national news media, conservative voters across America lost their candidate when Mitt Romney announced he was dropping out of the race at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee meeting on Thursday. The wheels fell off the well-funded, seemingly indestructible campaign after disappointing Super (Duper) Tuesday returns, in which Romney lost 14 of the 21 primaries. "I feel I have to now stand aside, for our party and for our country," Romney told the booing crowd. The announcement seemed a quick turnaround for the campaign, which had played down Tuesday’s loses and still cast Romney as the conservative standard bearer for the Republican base to rally around all the way to the convention. However, it seems likely that either Romney the Businessman or his family didn’t want Romney the Candidate emptying the clan’s coffers for nothing. He has spent nearly 40 million dollars of his own money in his 90 million dollar campaign, far more than any of the other candidates. The biggest question now is where the Romney supporters will go. Romney has refrained from endorsing either Huckabee or McCain. In the past, McCain and Romney have not had the nicest things to say about each other, with Romney going so far as to accuse McCain of being a liberal. Huckabee may appeal to Romney’s evangelical supporters, however the fiscal conservatives who rallied behind Romney appear to be left without a candidate. However, it is difficult to see Romney throwing Huckabee and endorsement, as he does not want to forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Senator Obama would win” by continuing his campaign. McCain has a huge advantage over Huckabee in terms of delegates and in the media, so Huckabee’s electability is questionable. There is wide speculation that many conservatives my simply sit this election out.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080207/ts_nm/usa_politics_romney_dc_7
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18774154
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/romney-does-the-numbers-and-makes-way-for-mccain/2008/02/08/1202234167288.html?s_cid=rss_world
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/opinion/09collins.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
2 comments:
I am somewhat surprised at the sudden exit by Romney, but still not more surprised then the fact that Huckabee and Romney took this long together. The two have been carving up one another's votes, and it definitely seems like too little to late. Romney did, however, make a strong run at the seat. I did not ever think he would pick up as much steam as he had going into Super Tuesday. I believe if their were different candidates running Romney would have had a stronger opportunity to win. I doubt he will try and run in 2012, but it sure would be interesting to see what would happen.
i was also surprised to hear that Romney dropped out of the race when it seemed like he was going to be in it for the whole thing and was still ahead of Huckabee. Though i was surprised, i think it was inevitable, McCain clearly ran away with super tuesday and left no room for Romney to make any progress, especially with Huckabee taking some conservative votes
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