Time Magazine says Romney may announce that he is dropping out during his CPAC speech today.
CNN just posted it as breaking news that he is suspending the campaign. He met with his advisers here in Boston yesterday and his spokesman said they were continuing on, so something may have changed.
The post analysis yesterday was pretty bleak for Romney. Out of the 1200 or so remaining delegate votes available, he would need to collect 75% of them to clinch the nomination. Around 100 of those were in southern states Huckabee was favored to win (and IIRC were WTA states). A significant number of other states yet to vote were not WTA, which means that Romney, even with a victory, wouldn’t pick up all that many delegates.
he is suspending the campaign.
What does that mean, “suspending” his campaign? Why not just drop out? Hoping for a crack at VP?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone “suspending” their presidential campaign.
from the CNN article -
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.
On the Democratic side, a candidate who “suspends” is technically still a candidate so he or she keeps both district and statewide delegates won through primaries and caucuses. Superdelegates are always free to support any candidate at any time, whether the candidate drops out, suspends or stays in.
National party rules say that a candidate who “drops out” keeps any district-level delegates he or she has won so far but loses any statewide delegates he or she has won.
Do you really think he would have a shot at VP - I would think that McCain would rather take up Huck to carry those southern red states that are more aligned to Huck’s values image.
I think it matters in terms of holding on to delegates, which could come in handy at the convention. So the TV tells me, anyway.
Do you really think he would have a shot at VP
He’s more likely to be waterboarded by McCain than tagged for VP.
Do you really think he would have a shot at VP
No. I can’t see it, anyway.
I can’t really see the point is playing games with the delegate count, I guess. If Romney’s out, the nomination goes to McCain. It’s not like Romney can effectively leverage his delegates one way or the other. As far as I can tell, anyway.
To-mae-to, to-mah-to. I say he should just quit the race and go home, already.
I can see him attempting to play games with his delegates as I think he is pretty steamed over the West Va. caucuses where it appears there was the appearance of shenanigans between Huckabee and McCain supporters. However, given that he is miffed at both of the remaining guys, I don’t see what he has to work with.
It will also be interesting to see if Romney pulls out, if Huck follows soon after, with Huck then becoming the potential VP candidate–he would have served McCain well in staying in long enough to make sure that Romney can’t get the nomination.
OK - but would Huck really be a good VP candidate? The exit polls in the states he won showed for the most part that shared values was the primary issue to the voters, and that could help McCain. However, given Huck’s policy stand is rather left of McCain and McCain is already in trouble with the more conservative wing of the party, would that really be wise? Would he be better with Thompson, who could probably swing some of the more values oriented stable plus bring a more conservative balance tot he ticket? Or should he totally go outside the circuit of candidates and try for a Bloomberg? Or does it really matter because Republicans will vote Republican - assuming they don’t just stay home.
What does that mean, “suspending” his campaign? Why not just drop out?
Money. As long as he is still in the game, he can keep collecting. He wants to replenish his children’s inheritance.
Ugh. Really?
That’s pathetic. Somehow McCain’s campaign finance reform allows for this, eh?
I agree. Huckabee will not be the VP candidate. Romney might be looking at this as a possibility, as McCain will need someone more conservative to balance out the ticket to the Republican right. However, there are certainly people other than Romney who could do this just as effectively. Given that Romney’s withdrawal at this time was surprising (at least it surprised me), I think there were some behind-the-scenes discussions with the McCain camp and others about it. What those were and whether they included any deals is, however, even more remote speculation.
I see this withdrawal as likely blocking any potential Bloomberg candidacy. It leaves a more moderate Republican candidate that can compete with Bloomberg for independent votes that is also relatively unblooodied by the primaries. I thought Bloomberg’s candidacy, while still an extreme if not impossible longshot, made most sense in the context of a CLinton-Romney fight, where both were bruised and damaged by long, drawn out primaries.
He did it because he “loves America.” I guess this means Hillary and Barrack hate America.