Romney suspends presidential campaign

Romney suspends presidential campaign

Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win."

"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.

With Romney out, Sen. John McCain is locked in as the front-runner in the GOP race.

Romney had won 286 delegates through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with McCain's 697.

The crowd booed when Romney mentioned McCain, saying, "I disagree with Sen. McCain on a number of issues. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and I agree with him on eliminating al Qaeda and terror worldwide," he said.

According to a senior McCain adviser, McCain called Romney and told him he "admired his speech today and that he was a tough competitor."

McCain also told Romney he looks forward to sitting down with him at the earliest opportunity. McCain did not ask Romney for his endorsement.

Hes done. thats it. game over folks. Now were stuck with McCain, who is a lot better in the race that Romney ever was. If the Democrats dont SHAPE UP NOW - its done, because Romney did what Clinton and Obama feared. he dropped out for the good of the competitor. He did what both of them are too greedy to do. they want power and they will fight till election day to get it.


Yours Truly ~~
()_BOB_)~~*

Cheers, boos for McCain at conservative gathering

Cheers, boos for McCain at conservative gathering

Sen. John McCain Thursday told a conservative-rich audience that he has what it takes to unite the Republican party.

"I know I have a responsibility, if I am, as I hope to be, the Republican nominee for president, to unite the party and prepare for the great contest in November," McCain told the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Critics say he's too liberal to carry his party's nomination. Conservatives point to him breaking with the party on immigration, opposing the Bush tax cuts and co-sponsoring legislation on campaign finance reform.

The meeting is the nation's largest annual gathering of conservative activists, students and policymakers, according to CPAC.

The speech came just hours after McCain's chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, announced he was suspending his campaign.

[...]

The crowd responded enthusiastically when McCain said he would make the Bush tax cuts permanent. McCain voted against the president's first two tax cuts in the Senate.

Further trying to separate himself from the liberal ideas he has been associated with, McCain detailed what he called "significant differences" between him and the Democratic candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

McCain also asked the audience to forgive him for his absence from last year's CPAC, when he was the only major Republican candidate to reject an invitation to speak at the conference.

"I hope you will pardon my absence last year, and understand that I intended no personal insult to any of you," he said. "I was merely preoccupied with the business of trying to escape the distinction of preseason front-runner for the Republican nomination, which, I'm sure some of you observed, I managed to do in fairly short order."

Short order is right...if he keeps this up, with the Dems in a lockup, hes going to get the presidency for sure. Then all those stupid, ridiculous tax cuts STAY. I'm glad that people accuse him of being too liberal however, it shows that the country wont stay backwater forever, that we will progress from the old "we are GREAT" mentality to a "lets make ourselves worth looking at" mentality. even the so-called conservatives.

But seriously...Lets get the Dems straightened out so we don't get a giant wall built across the Mexican border. please? The world doesn't need another Berlin wall.

Yours Truly ~~
()_BOB_)~~*

Democrats dread drawn-out, costly campaign

Democrats dread drawn-out, costly campaign

With Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York nearly splitting the delegate count in the race for the Democratic nomination, party leaders have a dilemma on their hands: a tie ball game heading into their convention.

"I think we're going to have a nominee by middle of March or April." DNC Chairman Howard Dean said. "But if we don't, then we're gonna have to get the candidates together and make some kind of arrangement, because I don't think we can afford to have a brokered convention. That would not be good news for either party."

That's because unlike recent conventions, when the party tickets were firmly established, Obama and Clinton could conceivably end up short of the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Heading into Saturday's contests, nine pledged delegates separated Clinton and Obama. Clinton has amassed 840 pledged delegates to Obama's 831. By contrast, Sen. John McCain has built a commanding lead for the Republican nomination.

The job of putting Clinton or Obama over the top could fall to superdelegates -- the nearly 800 party leaders who can cast ballots for the candidate of their choice.

[...]

One thing is clear: The longer the two senators go at it, the more it will cost them.

Seriously. The Democratic party has to get its act together! If McCain already has the republican nomination its a sure thing hes on the ballot. hes already gaining support for the final election! if Clinton and Obama don't decide this soon the party is brokered and nobody wins. or at least...nobody but McCain. Someone has to make a decision about who is running and the longer it takes, the harder its going to be to win

Yours Truly ~~
()_BOB_)~~*

Clinton lent $5 million to her campaign before Super Tuesday

Clinton lent $5 million to her campaign before Super Tuesday

Sen. Hillary Clinton dipped into her own finances ahead of this week's Super Tuesday contests, lending her Democratic presidential campaign $5 million in late January, she disclosed Wednesday.

In another development, some senior members of Clinton's campaign staff have agreed to go without pay for a month, CNN has confirmed.

"We had a great month fundraising in January -- broke all records," the New York senator and former first lady told reporters.

"But my opponent was able to raise more money, and we intended to be competitive, and we were, and I think the results last night prove the wisdom of my investment."

Clinton won the biggest Super Tuesday prizes -- New York and California -- along with major Northeastern states New Jersey and Massachusetts and four other primaries in the South and West.

[...]

But because of the party's allocation system and Obama's larger number of victories in smaller states, her lead was fewer than 100 of the 1,500-plus delegates awarded to date.

Nice job Hillary. send 5 million into your campaign but let the people who are holding you up high suffer for it...not that any of them are poor or anything - theyre still donating valuable time to you though. i have no words for how much this is going to hurt her image - transforming her into just another washington fatcat.


Yours Truly ~~
()_BOB_)~~*

Super Tuesday In Full Swing

Voters head to the polls from coast to coast on Super Tuesday

Voters coast to coast are heading to the polls in 24 states and American Samoa Tuesday in what could be a pivotal day for the Democratic and Republican White House hopefuls.

Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day, and some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs.

More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake.

Tuesday's results are more likely to be decisive in the contest among GOP nominees Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee than the Democratic contest due to how the GOP allocates delegates.

This article is now out of date and changed - but, the results are currently in and it is clear that McCain has won the Republican vote - which is odd considering before he seemed to be the flounder in the water and his running was all but expired. The Democrats are split near evenly along Obama and Clinton with Obama winning the popular in the majority but Clinton winning several important states, including California
Yours Truly ~~
()_BOB_)~~*