Romney Endorses John McCain

							Romney Endorses John McCain
Republican candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed leading rival John McCain
for the party's presidential nomination. Earlier Romney had suspended his
campaign, indicating that he did not want a democrat candidate to win the
presidential race. Romney has now asked his delegates to support McCain.
Both leaders interacted in private before they appeared alongside each
other at a news conference. McCain, who was campaigning in Vermont and
Rhode Island, flew to Boston to attend the announcement of his
endorsement by Romney.
While announcing his endorsement, Romney praised McCain for his integrity
and capability. "Even when the contest was close and our disagreements
were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent," he said, as McCain
stood beside him. He also called McCain "a man capable of leading our
country at a dangerous hour." McCain responded appropriately by blaming
the stress of campaigning for the disagreements between them. "Primaries
are tough," the senior Senator remarked. "We know it was a hard campaign
and now we move forward, we move forward together for the good of our
party and the nation," he said.
Romney's endorsement has ended almost a year of acerbic rivalry between
the two leaders. Romney repeatedly picked on TV ads of McCain aired in
New Hampshire. Both leaders also publicly debated over differences, and
neither was known to particularly like the other. Romney portrayed McCain
as not being conservative enough, while McCain insinuated that Romney's
retracting over key issues was indicative of Romney's readiness to adapt
his ideology to suit political ends. According to campaign officials,
Romney has decided to endorse McCain before it is too late and it becomes
clear who the democrat candidate will be.
With Romney dropping his campaign, McCain's nomination from the
Republican Party is now assured. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas
Governor, and Ron Paul, the Texas Representative with libertarian are the
only two Republicans still in the race. However, neither really stands a
chance of beating McCain with the number of delegates they win.
Since Romney has already won 280 delegates, the number of delegates for
McCain would now be quite close to the 1,191 delegates needed to capture
the nomination. And it is still nine months before the general elections
will be conducted.
Even following Romney's announcement, eight members of the Republican
National Committee endorsed McCain adding his total to 851 delegates.
Though Romney can ask delegates to vote for McCain, he ca nnot actually
hand them over; this is because the actual delegates will be selected
during the state conventions in spring, by people who voted for Romney in
the caucuses. It would not be possible to predict whether they would
accept Romney's endorsement of McCain.
Romney suspended his campaign last week last week, but had refrained from
supporting McCain as Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson did.
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