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WASHINGTON - John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign. "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives.
"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," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Romney's decision leaves McCain as the top man standing in the GOP race, with Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul far behind in the delegate hunt. It was a remarkable turnaround for McCain, who some seven months ago was barely viable, out of cash and losing staff. The four-term Arizona senator, denied his party's nomination in 2000, was poised to succeed George W. Bush as the GOP standard-bearer.
Commenting on his front-runner status - a title he had and lost last year - McCain told the conference, "This time I now have that distinction and I prefer to hold onto it for quite a while."
McCain and Romney spoke by phone after Romney's speech, though no endorsement was requested nor offered, according to a Republican official with knowledge of the conversation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23050678/
"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," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Romney's decision leaves McCain as the top man standing in the GOP race, with Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul far behind in the delegate hunt. It was a remarkable turnaround for McCain, who some seven months ago was barely viable, out of cash and losing staff. The four-term Arizona senator, denied his party's nomination in 2000, was poised to succeed George W. Bush as the GOP standard-bearer.
Commenting on his front-runner status - a title he had and lost last year - McCain told the conference, "This time I now have that distinction and I prefer to hold onto it for quite a while."
McCain and Romney spoke by phone after Romney's speech, though no endorsement was requested nor offered, according to a Republican official with knowledge of the conversation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23050678/
