Democrashield.com

[Bumped]

CNN is reporting that Romney will suspend his campaign for the Presidency

UPDATE: More from CNN:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will suspend his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, GOP sources tell CNN.

Romney had won 270 delegates in through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with front-runner John McCain’s 680.

Romney had no public events Wednesday and instead met with aides to discuss strategy to stay in the race through March 4.

“It is tough to saddle up this a.m.,” one Romney adviser told CNN the morning after his disappointing Super Tuesday finish.

[...]

Suspending a campaign has a different meaning depending on the party.

On the Republican side, decisions on how to allocate delegates is left to the state parties.

More to come…

UPDATE II: This is from his speech.  Can you believe this guy?

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 Sen. 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.”

First, Huckabee’s still in the race, so Romney supporters and McCain detractors could coalesce around him as the anti-McCain.  It’s not particularly likely, though, especially when you consider that Huckabee’s non-conservative views on public spending and economics will keep a lot of conservatives from supporting him.

Second, even if the GOP nomination goes to McCain right now, he won’t get nearly the attention he did during the contested primary–the Democratic primary will continue to make big headlines as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama  show off their knowledge, charisma and experience, while McCain will quickly fade into the background until the GOP convention in the summer.

Third, McCain has a lot of detractors in the GOP who won’t be happy about Romney’s departure.  A lot of them probably won’t fall in line behind McCain, even if he is the party’s nominee. Despite McCain’s pandering and recent tack to the right, he spent years making enemies on the GOP–enemies who won’t forget his betrayals.

Fourth, Romney isn’t dropping out for America or for his party or anything like that.  He’s dropping out because he couldn’t get enough support to win the nomination–because voters saw him as a soulless flip-flopper, as an entitled plutocrat who thought that his money and his good looks were enough to get him into the White House.

Mitt Romney was a silver-spoon child who was born into wealth and privilege, who got ahead because of his father’s name and his family’s money, who shamelessly tried to play the role of the regular guy despite his staggering fame and fortune, who spouted empty platitudes about freedom and liberty and Ronald Reagan, all in the vain hope that nobody would see his true motivations: sheer greed and the lust for power.

Goodbye, Mitt Romney.  Your time on the public stage went on for far too long, and your candidacy will serve as a reminder of just how soulless, how empty, how fake and phony and hollow the Republican Party can sometimes be.