Romney Bows Out

For the good of the party - and the nation as a whole - Mitt Romney is bowing out.

This is according to his pre-released speech he's slated to give at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) today. From the speech:

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.

I suppose it's time to take the Mitt Romney sign down from my yard. It was a good run, especially for a virtual no-name pseudo-politician from the Northeast. It's also time to start saving up for the long, cold economic winter straight ahead, and today's politics will do little more than make it worse.

At least now I can get back to writing about more interesting things that cross my mind rather than Mitt Romney, all day, every day. As much as I like the guy, it will be nice to focus on something a little more trite.

Romney Presses Onward

Despite disheartening showings at yesterday's Super Tuesday primaries (and collusion between his opponents), Mitt Romney vowed to fight to the finish.

"This isn't just about the heart and soul of our party, it isn't just about which party's going to win in November. This is about the future course of our country," he said to about 500 supporters, many of whom wore stunned looks on their faces as the returns came in.

"I'm convinced that if Washington continues on its same course, America will emerge not as the great nation of the 21st Century by the end, but as a second-tier power. It will be passed by someone else; I can't tell you who it will be, but it will be passed by someone else."

Romney added: "That will not happen. We'll keep America strong."

Does Mitt have even the smallest chance of winning the White House? That depends on whether all those conservative pundits who flocked to him this past week remain faithful, or if they abandon their principles in favor of the more dominant candidate. If conservative talk radio is loud and consistent in its support of Romney over the next couple months, a turnaround is possible. But that's a big IF.

McCain/Huckabee Backroom Deal!

It's too odd to be a coincidence. In West Virginia, Mike Huckabee somehow surged from a distant second behind Mitt Romney to win the primary, along with the state's delegates. How did this happen?

It all has to do with W. Virginia's primary process. After the first round of balloting, the weakest performers drop out (in this case, John McCain and Ron Paul). Their supporters then vote again among the remaining contestants (Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney).

If you look at the numbers in the article, virtually 100% of McCain's supporters backed Huckabee in the end. Far to many for it to be a coincidence.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic reported Tuesday that, after the first ballot, McCain’s campaign called his supporters there and urged them to vote in favor of Huckabee.

“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change,” Beth Myers, Romney’s campaign manager, said in a statement.

If antics like this are what cause McCain to win the primaries, then the Republican Party truly will have destroyed itself.

Rush Officially Endorses Romney

It was only a matter of time--and hopefully not too much time. Rush has come out and officially thrown his support behind Mitt Romney. I suppose he regrets his earlier commitment to refrain from endorsing anyone, but I suppose the stakes now are too high.

Hopefully Rush can help push Mitt over the top in enough states. Crossing fingers...

Romney's Super-Tuesday Surge

It looks like Mitt Romney is finding some traction leading up to all-important Super Tuesday tomorrow. In the last week in many areas of the country he has eliminated most or all of John McCain's lead in the polls; especially significant is delegate-rich California, where Romney leads by eight points. This is complemented by his non-binding landslide win in Maine. I'm sure this is due in no small part to the support of the conservative ideologues in the media - the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys, Laura Ingrahams, et. al. He may have been helped by comments from Mike Huckabee, who is believed to be siphoning votes from Romney in the South. Huckabee has turned negative toward the talking heads who oppose him, even going so far as to say that Sean Hannity was speaking from his pocketbook because he was on the Bain Capital payroll.

Romney is known to be the most hated candidate among his competition thanks to his Washington outsider status, his money and his evolution on key issues. If he can pull this off, it will be quite the upset. At the very least, I believe Mitt will win enough delegates on Tuesday to continue his run.

Rick Santorum Gets Behind Romney

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum joined Laura Ingraham on her radio show to voice his support of Mitt Romney. From the interview:

If you're a conservative, there really is only one place to go right now. I would even argue farther than that. If you're a Republican, if you're a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now and that's Mitt Romney.

Listen to the interview.

Hugh Hewitt on the State of the Race

Hugh Hewitt insightfully comments on the state of the Romney vs. McCain race.

John McCain saved Romney the trouble of going negative in the debate by putting on open display the temperament that has earned John McCain a measure of infamy in the Senate and beyond, and McCain's refusal to back away from the obvious-to-all low-blow distortion of Romney's Iraq positions left a queasy feeling among even McCain supporters. This was not a display of anything like the skills that would be necessary to defeat Senator Obama in the fall. In fact, just the opposite.

Many heads in the spin room at the debate from which I was broadcasting were shaking after the Giuliani press conference as McCain looked bleached and worn out. They were still shaking after McCain’s shaky debate. On many Republican lips was a familiar name: Bob Dole.

Bob Dole, without the conservative principles, perhaps, or the energy.

Hewitt also reinforces the notion that conservatives media figures are coalescing behind Romney as they realize that a vote for McCain is not a vote for conservatism. In fact, Ann Coulter goes so far as to say that Hillary is right on more issues!

Coulter
by krs601

Another for Mitt: Mark Levin

It's no secret I'm probably in the top 5% most conservative of conservatives. That doesn't stop me from an extreme dislike of the Mark Levin Show on the radio. Basically, you take Sean Hannity, crank up the nasality, add a bunch of hyperbole and hyperventilation, and pile on a heaping helping of poorly crafted metaphors and juvenile puns. That's Mark Levin.

But Levin does, as other media conservatives appear to, have a good head on his shoulders, and is endorsing Mitt Romney. Are all these endorsements too little, too late? It's too bad they couldn't have come to the same conclusion a week earlier. Even so, it's another good development in the week leading up to Super Tuesday.

From Levin's statement:

Let’s face it, none of the candidates are perfect. They never are. But McCain is the least perfect of the viable candidates. The only one left standing who can honestly be said to share most of our conservative principles is Mitt Romney. I say this as someone who has not been an active Romney supporter. If conservatives don’t unite behind Romney at this stage, and become vocal in their support for him, then they will get McCain as their Republican nominee and probably a Democrat president. And in either case, we will have a deeply flawed president. [Emphasis added.]

Sean Hannity Voting for Romney

I was listening to Sean Hannity on the way home today. I have to say, I've never been much of a fan. Sure, I agree with him on most subjects, but I find his conversations less than insightful, more like a constant repeat of conservative talking points. But, it's either that, staticky NPR, or 24-7 traffic and weather.

Anyway, Hannity revealed that he's voting for Romney on Super Tuesday, which is significant since he has plenty of listeners that like him much more than I do. Now if only Rush would get off his duff and throw down as well.

On an unrelated note, Romney clearly won last night's debate--basically a two-man match with Huckabee and Paul becoming nothing more than significant than the former Air Force One that shared their background.

Fred Thompson for President

There goes another one. Thanks for playing, Fred. Hope to see you soon back on Law & Order.

Add Nevada to the Mitt List

From Deep Right Field - Coulter Endorses Romney

Characteristically caustic and coherent, Anne Coulter has thrown her support behind Mitt Romney. Her latest column highlights her specific reasoning. My favorite part:

One clue that Romney is our strongest candidate is the fact that Democrats keep viciously attacking him while expressing their deep respect for Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

This point was already extensively covered in Chapter 1 of "How To Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)": Never take advice from your political enemies.

Turn on any cable news show right now, and you will see Democratic pundits attacking Romney, calling him a "flip-flopper," and heaping praise on McCain and Huckleberry -- almost as if they were reading some sort of "talking points."

Who knows? Maybe other media influentials (i.e. Rush, Hannity, etc.) will come to the same conclusion. Because at this point, "Anybody but Hillary" just doesn't cut it.

It's Out Of My Hands

Well, I worked the phones for a couple hours for the Romney campaign on Saturday, and this morning I was voter #4 in my precinct, so I've done just about all I can on my end here in Michigan. The rest is up to the remaining electorate – in whom I don't hold a lot of faith. I mean, they keep electing people in favor of more taxes in a depressed economy. Detroit City Council is a circus. The Michigan legislature is the embodiment of malaise. Not the most enlightened voters I've seen.

Will these people break from tradition and nominate a non-lame-o? We'll know tonight!

Romney Leads in Michigan

I spend a couple hours at the Mitt Romney phone bank yesterday, urging people to "get out the vote" (I've always hated the grammar of that statement). It was a new experience for me, and it was completely boring. The outbound telephone research I did while in college was more fascinating. Nevertheless, I must have made an impact, because the latest polls show Romney ahead of McCain in Michigan by five points.

The polling on the Republican side has been very accurate over the course of the primaries. Let's hope it holds!

Rush on Romney

Rush had an interesting answer today for the people who care to declare somebody (in this case, Mitt Romney) "finished" this early in the primary process.

Romney, by the way, you want to hear the delegate count after two states? On the Republican side, Mitt Romney, 24 delegates because he won Wyoming, which has as many delegates as New Hampshire. In number two the delegate race is Huckabee at 18, and number three is McCain, at ten, McCain, because of the margin of his victory in New Hampshire. So Romney, after three states, leads in delegates. Now, I know this is all going to change, but you can't come up and say, "Well, if he loses New Hampshire, he's out. If he loses Michigan, he's done." This is mindless! It's irresponsible! It's not even based in any kind of thought. It's just a bunch of individuals predicting things on one particular event after one particular event. This is not a momentum election, folks, this is important to understand. This is not a momentum election, because nobody has any momentum right now. The momentum shifts, we've had two states, we've had two sets of winners in both states. Where's the momentum? It's impossible to say that there is any momentum.

So Romney has the most Republican delegates so far. Doesn't sound like a bad position. If he can take Michigan, or even get another strong second, it sounds like he won't be much worse off than any other candidate. Just wait for Florida. That's when I think we'll start seeing a trend worth basing predictions upon.

Wyoming - Romney's Consolation Prize

Even if he lost Iowa to Huckabee, Mitt Romney took the Wyoming caucuses, easily securing six of its eight convention delegates. It's a little momentum he can use going into New Hampshire this week.

It Ain't Over Yet

Yes, yesterday's Iowa caucuses were disappointing to Romney supporters around the country. But he's not dead yet – not by a long shot. As Romney heads into his next battle, the CNN article points out that "Iowa is no New Hampshire."

In Iowa, entrance polls of caucus-goers showed that 3 out of every 5 Republicans were self-described born again or evangelical Christians. Huckabee beat Romney by better than 2-to-1 in this voting bloc. Among the rest of Iowa's Republican electorate, however, Huckabee finished a distant fourth behind Romney, McCain and Fred Thompson.

In New Hampshire, social conservatives are not as influential. This potentially opens the door for Romney to regain the upper hand or for McCain to repeat his 2000 victory.

It's comforting to remember that even with all the media hype surrounding the Iowa event, many victories there are merely flashes in the pan. To win nationally, Huckabee will have to do a lot more than win over the "self-described born again or evangelical Christians."

Meanwhile, I bet Mitt's more worried about McCain, who won the New Hampshire primaries last time around.

Regardless of how it turns out, it's strange to think that in about a month, in all likelihood we'll know who the nominees will be. Then the fun will really begin.

Another One Bites the Dust. Tancredo Cedes Race to Romney

There's one fewer Republican candidate to remember. Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo dropped out of the race, recognizing that he has no chance of winning, and that Romney has the best chance to push Tancredo's signature platform - illegal immigration reform.

As the article states, the endorsement comes at a time when Romney (considered the odds-on favorite to win by Pat Buchanan) is pushing to retain an edge in Iowa - and it's a welcome endorsement indeed.

Tancredo and Romney met for about an hour today prior to the announcements, Tancredo said. He opted to support Romney after he was reassured that he had clarified his position on immigration.

Bowing out was the only way to ensure the momentum behind the anti-illegal immigration movement wouldn't flame out, he said.

Seems that Romney has enjoyed slow but steady growth over the course of his marathon campaign, compared to his opponents, whose standings have been either anemic (John McCain, Fred Thompson), in decline (Giuliani), or wildly unpredictable (Huckabee). If recent history is any measure, Mitt is right on track to be the one who beats Hillary in the general election.

Mona Charen for Mitt Romney

Here's a snippet from an excellent piece Mona Charen writes about Mitt. Looks like she's one of those who was definitively swayed by his "Faith in America" speech.

"It is difficult to find any significant weakness in Romney. He is refreshingly articulate, exceedingly well prepared and self-disciplined, clearly an excellent manager with both private and government experience, happily married with a large, supportive family, and well within the mainstream of conservatism on every major issue. His nomination would not divide the base.

"He is just the sort of candidate people complain that they never get."

Michael Novak - Another Powerful Romney Endorsement

Wow, there's nothing like heating up the political horse race to bring out the big, ringing endorsements. First the National Review, and now the widely respected philosopher and diplomat Michael Novak. Read the endorsement.

An excerpt:

"One of my favorite texts from the New Testament is "By their fruits you shall know them." That verse has taught me to look for persons who actually love God, not so much by the churches they attend or what they say they believe, but by how they and their families live their lives. Over two public generations now, the Romney family has given us examples of upright, decent, warm lives, given to public commitment even though they did not have to be.

"These days, though, it has become imperative for some Christians to come out publicly for Mitt, now that his religion has come under unfair attack. I am no expert on Mormon theology, but I do profoundly admire the good family life and good individuals it keeps sending forth into the world. Those are signs I read clearly."