Mitt Romney to End Campaign for Republican Nomination to Oppose Clinton, Obama Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 7, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Mitt Romney is making it official today and will suspend his campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Romney won several caucus and primary states but failed to match John McCain and couldn’t overcome the support Mike Huckabee developed in southern states and with pro-life voters.
Romney announced his plan to depart from the race in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
He said he would get out of the race to ensure the eventual nominee has an easier time pulling the GOP together behind his campaign in the face of a battle against pro-abortion Democrats Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I’d be making it easier for Senator Clinton or [Barack] Obama to win," Romney said.
"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," he added.
The former Massachusetts senator campaigned as a pro-life advocate and called for overturning Roe v. Wade but had a hard time overcoming charges from pro-life advocates that he flip-flopped on abortion.
Some notable pro-life advocates such as National Right to Life founder and former president Jack Willke and NRLC’s legal counsel Jim Bopp endorsed Romney. Others had a hard time believing that his pro-life views were more than an election-year conversion.
Romney spent about $40 million of his own money on his campaign and developed a solid team in many of the leading states but couldn’t use that to gain a lead in the nomination battle.
He amassed 294 delegates to the Republican National Convention but 1,191 are needed and McCain has over 700 already.
Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are still officially battling for the Republican nomination, but McCain has gone well past the halfway mark in terms of the number of delegates needed to officially become the nominee.
The next presidential battles for Republican voters happen in Kansas, Washington and Louisiana.