Romney Supporters Surprised by Exit

By Paul Vitello

Until about 15 minutes into his 18-minute speech, Mitt Romney was delivering what some supporters thought was one of his most emotionally powerful renditions of a campaign address he has made hundreds of times since declaring his candidacy for president almost exactly a year ago.
It was a speech that had an audience of over 1,000 at the annual Conservative Political Action Convention here interrupting him with sustained applause dozens of times — a few times standing on their feet – as he decried “the culture of dependency” fostered by government social programs, the looming “demographic disaster” of unchecked entitlement programs, the looming threat of Asian economic supremacy, the perilous threat of “Islamic jihadism,” and the urgent need to unleash the American entrepreneurial genius by “taking a weed-whacker to government regulations.”
Then he said something that didn’t fit with the uncompromising tenor of the speech up to that point.
“When he mentioned 1976, I knew it was over,” said Wesley Galloway, an accountant from Trumbull, Conn. who has supported the former Massachusetts governor from the beginning.
The conservative radio talk show host, Laura Ingraham, had introduced Mr. Romney by calling him “the conservatives’ conservative,” and referring to what she called the fatal mistake Republicans made in 1976 when they chose the moderate Vice president Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan as their presidential candidate. Mr. Ford lost to Jimmy Carter, the Georgia governor.As if in reply to that analogy, Mr. Romney said, “But there is an important difference between now and 1976. Today we are a nation at war.” He said it was more important to beat the Democratic candidates, who he said would “declare defeat and retreat from Iraq,” than to continue a campaign that would “forestall the launch of a national campaign” against them.
He hated to lose, he said, “but this isn’t about me.”
“When he said that, I have to admit I teared up,” said Mr. Galloway. “It was a noble thing to do and all that, but I think he was by far the best candidate. It’s a loss for the country.”
Disappointed boos from the audience were followed closely by the last frenzy of waving “Change Begins With Us” signs, and the last sustained demonstration of support for the Mitt Romney for President campaign.
Susie Fox, 46, emerged from the auditorium with smudged eyeliner. “I’m still in shock,” she said when asked what she thought. “I thought it was a great speech. He had us all so up. And then, it was over.”
Becky Norton Dunlop, of Arlington, Va., a vice president of the Heritage Foundation and member of the board of directors of the American Conservative Union, was less distraught but gave Mr. Romney high marks for his “classy decision.” She said she had not cottoned to any of the Republican candidates, but would now be “very eager to hear Mr. McCain explain his vision of conservatism.” Arizona Senator John McCain, no favorite of orthodox conservatives – and a no show at last year’s CPAC convention – was scheduled to speak to the meeting here later in the day.
As many of Mr. Romney’s supporters filed out of the auditorium at the Omni Sheraton Hotel here, people wearing McCain buttons and carrying McCain banners flooded into the room, like a victorious army.
One of them, Amy Kaufman, a college freshman from Annapolis, Md. Who has manned phone banks for Mr. McCain since last November, said she was “elated” by the withdrawal of Mr. McCain’s last major obstacle to the nomination, but feeling “a new respect” for his rival, Mr. Romney.
She had sat in the auditorium to hear Mr. Romney’s speech. “I thought he made a great speech,” she said. “But when he said he was dropping out – I just didn’t see it coming. People around me were, like, what did he just say?”

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Em destaque: Sobre o discurso de Mitt Romney, que anunciou sua desistência como candidato republicano a presidência dos Estados Unidos.

Fonte: The New York Times
Publicação: 7 de fevereiro 2008
Autor: Paul Vitello
Link: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/romney-supporters-surprised-by-exit/

With Romney Gone, What Will McCain Do?

By Adam Nagourney

If there was ever much doubt that Senator John McCain of Arizona was going to win the Republican presidential nomination after Super Tuesday, it was pretty much eliminated with the decision by Mitt Romney of Massachusetts to drop out the race this afternoon.
Mr. McCain is now left with one serious opponent – Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas. Mr. Huckabee has proved this year to be an articulate and affable candidate, and his surprise showing in winning a half-dozen Southern states on Tuesday was one reason that Mr. Romney bowed to what was inarguably the inevitable and quit.
But Mr. Huckabee is a candidate with some shortcomings – in particular, his lack of experience in foreign affairs – and, more significant, not much money to soldier on. What is more, Mr. McCain has a big lead in delegates coming out of Tuesday night, and under party rules, Mr. Huckabee would have tough job catching up even if he had the money to do so.
The question now for Mr. McCain is how far he needs go now in reaching out to conservatives who have been wary of him – if not flat out opposed to him – given his history on issues like easing immigration restrictions and changing campaign finance laws. Mr. Romney was arguably Mr. McCain’s greatest threat on the right and his greatest impetus for moving right; now that he is gone, some of the motivation for moving right is gone.Mr. McCain, who will address the Conservative Political Action Committee later in the afternoon, has a slightly different task now. He cannot win a general election without having the unambiguous support of conservatives around him – especially going up against a Democratic Party that is so, to borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, fired up and ready to go.
But the extent to which he emphasizes conservative positions could complicate his effort to win over the moderate and independent voters who have so long been drawn by Mr. McCain and is one of the reasons why many Democrats view him as the toughest candidate the Republicans have.
As for Mr. Romney, he was a candidate who many Republicans had long thought would in the end emerge as the party’s nominee. The reason for this was obvious to anyone who spent time with him: He was a strong presence on the campaign trail, unusually smart and articulate, and had a command of issues that comes from having spent so much time preparing for this moment.
But Mr. Romney somehow always came across better in person than he did on television, and that cut increasingly against him as the campaign moved on. But Mr. Romney’s change over such key issues as abortion rights, stem cell research and gay rights was jarring to people who had watched him as governor in Massachusetts, and even more to Republican voters who began to see clips that illustrated his differing views, thanks to YouTube and Mr. Romney’s opponents.
Altogether, it conveyed an image of inauthenticity that would have been problematic in any election year – but particularly this year, and particularly going against Mr. McCain. That, more than anything else, proved to be the obstacle Mr. Romney could not overcome.

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Em destaque: Os porquês da desistência do candidato Mitt Romney e os desafios propostos a McCain, para angariar os delegados mais conservadores do partido Republicano.

Fonte: The New York Times
Publicação: 7 de fevereiro 2008
Autor: Adam Nagourney
Link: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/with-romney-gone-what-will-mccain-do/index.html?hp

Romney Drops Out of Presidential Race

By JOHN SULLIVAN and MICHAEL LUO
Published: February 7, 2008

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who sought to position himself as the true conservative choice for the Republican presidential nomination, announced Thursday afternoon that he had ended his campaign.

Mr. Romney, who had vowed to press on despite disappointing results in the Super Tuesday primary contests, made the announcement at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
In a speech that touched on the messages of his campaign, Mr. Romney said he had come to his decision to help unify the Republican Party, and he charged that Democratic candidates, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, would not pursue the war in Iraq.
“Because I love America, in this time of war, I feel I have to stand aside for our party and our country,” he said.
Mr. Romney had hoped to use Tuesday’s results to narrow the gap between him and his chief rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona. Instead, he saw Mr. McCain widen the lead at the same time that Mr. Romney’s campaign lost ground to Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who racked up solid gains.
Speaking before an enthusiastic crowd at the conference, hosted by the American Conservative Union, Mr. Romney said he would have preferred to continue until the Republican convention.
“You are with me all the way to the convention,” he said. “Fight on, just like Ronald Reagan did in 1976.”
But by fighting to the convention, he said, “I’d forestall the launch of a national campaign and, frankly, I’d make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win.”
Mr. Romney faced a series of enormous challenges in the campaign, not the least of which was trying to reconcile the moderate political views he espoused as the governor of Massachusetts, a liberal state, with the more conservative views he championed on the campaign. That tension — and his decision to change positions on a number of emotionally charged issues, including renouncing his past support for abortion rights — led his rivals to continually lambaste him as a flip-flopper.
Then there was the question of his Mormon religion. After the candidacy of Mr. Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, took off in Iowa, where it was fueled by evangelical voters, Mr. Romney was moved to give a major speech in Texas defending his faith and denouncing the rise of secularism.
And although Mr. Romney, a former management consultant, ran what many described as a textbook campaign, he never really recovered after failing to execute the original strategy of winning the first two contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, and using those wins to build momentum. Iowa went to Mr. Huckabee, and New Hampshire to Mr. McCain, who tried to paint himself as a straight talker to contrast with Mr. Romney’s flexibility.
As the campaign progressed, Mr. Romney and Mr. McCain exchanged increasingly bitter attacks. Mr. Romney charged that Mr. McCain was “outside the mainstream of conservative political thought.” Mr. McCain pointedly noted that Mr. Romney had changed his position on important issues for many conservative Republicans, including as abortion rights and gun control.
But in Thursday’s speech, Mr. Romney emphasized his agreement with Mr. McCain’s position that the United States needed to continue to pursue the war in Iraq. Arguing that the war is a critical part of the country’s battle against terrorism, Mr. Romney said the Democratic candidates “would retreat, declare defeat, and the consequences of that would be devastating.”

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Fonte: The New York Times

Publicação: 07 de fevereiro 2008

Autor: John Sullivan e Michael Luo

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/us/politics/07cnd-repubs.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin