Mitt Romney will today announce that he’s throwing his endorsement and support behind Senator John McCain to be the next Republican nominee for President. This isn’t much of a surprise, ever since Romney suspended his campaign at the CPAC meeting it’s been expected he would throw in behind McCain. But now that it’s actually happened, the pressure on Mike Huckabee to get out of the race will become overwhelming.
I would expect Huckabee to abandon his campaign within days. Certainly following next Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary.
By most recent counts, John McCain has secured 827 of the 1,191 delegates he needs to lock the Republican nomination. Huckabee has been insisting that he will continue on until one candidate has the delegates needed to make it official.
By dropping out, Romney is releasing his delegates and asking them to now support Senator McCain. Not every one of them will do it, but most probably will. Romney’s 286 delegates will push McCain to the verge of the official 1,191 he needs.
Hopefully Huckabee sees the writing on the wall and pulls out soon, he can use his delegates to put McCain over the top and complete the GOP’s unification behind the nominee.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Smart move by Romney. See, this has nothing to do with this election. This has everything to do with 2012. The only reason Huckleberry is staying in is to try to come in the coveted 2nd place - which he would then use as clout in the 2012 race, “I was the #2 guy, just as McCain was the #2 guy to Bush in 2000. Therefore I am the establishment conservative- and the rightful nominee.”
Romney currently has that #2 spot locked up…and wants to keep it that way. By throwing his delegates to push McCain to the finish-line, it ends the gradual creeping up of Huckleberry into that prized 2nd place.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:22 am
WHOAAAAA!!! SMACK DOWN!!! boom, baby.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
What two-faced hypocricy. And why is Huckabee still in it? I think the party-liners are deathly afraid the delegates are going to abandon the sinking ship and some might join the RP lifeboat. Look at the Dems voter turnout numbers. McCain isn’t going to the Whitehouse any more than Ron Paul. Whos message would stand a chance of drawing cross-party voters? Unfortunately that message has been successfully (sadly) stifled by the “powers that be” in the party and the media. Why do they fight so hard to alienate the multitude of potential Repub. voters that could possibly give the Dems a run for their money (pun intended) in november. Because neither party is about real change. The Republican platform is so lame that it’s allowing Obamas saccharine “flowers and rainbows” campaign to roll right into the Whitehouse without much objective criticism of what he’s really proposing as policy.