Romney Announcement Stuns Conservatives

CPAC Attendees Faced With Prospect of McCain Candidacy

Former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney shocked conservatives last Thursday with his declaration that he was suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Reaganite Speech

Romney announced his decision before a packed ballroom at the 35th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington, D.C., after giving what many attendees called a powerful "Reaganite" speech on conservative values (see page 19 for the text of the Romney speech.).

The announcement cast a pall over CPAC, reducing the enthusiasm of many of the attendees.

The hundreds of conservative activists in the audience sat in stunned silence as the GOP candidate viewed by many voters as the one remaining conservative conceded the race to Arizona Sen. John McCain, by saying, "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country."

"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 Sen. Clinton or Obama would win," Romney said. "And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

Seeking to soothe the emotions of what had started as a largely energetic, enthusiastic crowd of Romney supporters, the governor went on to say: "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."

Moans and cries of "no, no" were heard across the auditorium as supporters made known their disappointment that the man who had fought hard against the "maverick" McCain on a number of issues on which the two disagreed was bowing out. But Romney reminded them that, in spite of his and McCain's many differences, "I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating al Qaeda and terror."

Romney's decision leaves McCain as the clear frontrunner for the GOP nod. The Arizonan had gained a 400-plus delegate advantage in the race following the February 5 Super Tuesday primary balloting. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who, as of Thursday morning, had trailed Romney by approximately 100 delegates, has vowed to stay in the race.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Feb 11, 2008
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved