It’s McCain’s Party (You Can Cry if You Want To)
Mitt Romney has “suspended” his campaign (ie; he’s done, via Byron York):
I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But 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. 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.
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.
Classy move. Hey, it was obvious McCain was going to win, but Romney had the money to keep in the fight. Let’s see what Mike Huckabee does next. Anyone wanna bet he hangs on a while longer? Methinks he likes the spotlight.
Smart move by Romney. Leave in a very statesmanlike manner. Leave after giving a Reaganesque conservative speech. He’s got the resume the money and the conservative message to be the frontrunner in 4 years. IMO McCain is not beating Hillary or Obama and either one is going to be a disaster as Prez. Hillary is as polarizing and phony as they come. Obama is an empty suit promising a chicken in every pot. The Republicans have a really good shot to rebuild their party base and retake D.C. in four years if one of these 2 Dems wins the WH in November. Romney looks very very strong in 4 years.
Optimistic conservatism outlasts mean-spirited conservatism.
I’m guessing Huck’s play for the number two spot works.
I wonder how many “conservatives” that supported Giuliani will now say that McCain is too liberal?
Any fiscal conservative, including ones who supported Giuliani, could think McCain is liberal on taxes since McCain voted against the Bush Tax cuts…I remember only one other “Republican” Senator who voted against the Bush tax cuts…his name will go unmentioned, but here is a hint: he “officially” left the GOP in the summer of 2007.
Romney’s speech was as classy as it was inspirational — very Reaganesque. Frankly, had he given that speech a few months back, he wouldn’t have been suspending his campaign today.
Romney has put himself in an excellent position as the leading conservative candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination (and perhaps even as a VP choice in 2008?). Listening to his speech at CPAC today, it was eerily reminiscent of Ronald Reagan’s speech at the 1976 Republican national Convention — except that the speech was made in February, not August (presumably, he does not want John McCain to share the fate of Gerald Ford, who “won” the nomination, but lost in the end to Jimmy Carter, because the party was so fractured going into the convention). Time will tell the result.
I’ve posted some more detailed thoughts about it over at The Ocean State Republican.
http://oceanstaterepublican.com/2008/02/07/
romney-energizes-conservatives
-at-cpac-suspends-campaign/
PS As the campaign is “suspended” and not “ended,” Romney will still be on the ballot in most states (a la John Edwards). I still plan to vote for Romney on March 4th. I’ll probably make a decision about my general election vote in the Fall; roughly the first week of November. 😉
Romney’s only hope to remain a viable future presidential candidate is to become McCain’s running mate, or hope for some high-profile appointment in the next administration.
Why? He’s a one-term Governor of Massachusetts.
There’s no other office in Mass. that he can go back and run for. He’s too late this year to challenge Kerry.
By 2012 he will have been out of office for six years, and here’s guessing that his Massachusetts health coverage bill will, by then, have been revealed as an unmitigated disaster.
Face it; his campaign was not very well thought out.
Because he was not a well-known national figure, he had to spend tremendous resources in Iowa just to raise his name recognition. Given the lopsided difference in resources, his loss to Huckabee there made him look foolish.
As a Massachusetts Governor he was expected to do very well in New Hampshire, and he failed to meet expectations.
I’m sure that all the know-it-all pundits will ponder whether his Mormon faith was the reason why he never caught on, but I think that’s way off.
He just did not run a very good campaign.
But I think it quite likely that he will be the VP nominee. If the ticket wins he’ll be in a great position for another run in the future; if the ticket loses he will still have a good chance to make another run. And he will learn from the mistakes of this campaign.