Sat, Jul 05 2008
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Published February 07, 2008 02:54 pm - WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign.  1:30 02/07/08 McCain seals GOP nomination as Romney suspends campaignWASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign. “I must now stand aside, for our party and our country,” Romney told conservatives. “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror,” Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Romney’s decision leaves McCain as the top man standing in the GOP race, with Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul far behind in the delegate hunt. It was a remarkable turnaround for McCain, who some seven months ago was barely viable, out of cash and losing staff. The four-term Arizona senator, denied his party’s nomination in 2000, was poised to succeed George W. Bush as the GOP standard-bearer. Romney launched his campaign almost a year ago in his native Michigan. The former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist invested more than $40 million of his own money into the race, counted on early wins in Iowa and New Hampshire that never materialized and won just seven states on Super Tuesday, mostly small caucus states. McCain took the big prizes of New York and California. “This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters ... many of you right here in this room ... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming president. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America,” Romney said. There were shouts of astonishment, with some moans and others yelling, “No, No.” Romney responded, “You guys are great.” McCain prevailed in most of the Super Tuesday states, moving closer to the numbers needed to officially win the nomination. Overall, McCain led with 707 delegates, to 294 for Romney and 195 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer’s convention in St. Paul, Minn. By suspending his campaign, Romney holds onto his delegates, at least until the party convention this summer. Romney claimed he was the true conservative in the race while McCain has been criticized by some on the right. McCain acknowledged the rocky relationship. “I am acutely aware that I cannot succeed in that endeavor, nor can our party prevail over the challenge we will face from either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama, without the support of dedicated conservatives,” McCain said in prepared remarks to the same conference. Romney acknowledged the obstacles to beating McCain. “As of today, more than 4 million people have given me their vote for president, that’s of course, less than Senator McCain’s 4.7 million, but quite a statement nonetheless. Eleven states have given me their nod, compared to his 13. Of course, because size does matter, he’s doing quite a bit better with the number of delegates he’s got,” Romney said. The Huckabee campaign said the former Arkansas governor would push on. 
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Running mates could come from Missouri or Kansas w/ link to the web site, politico.com ![Add a comment on this story](http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/zope/add_comment.php?section_id=presidential&story_id=local_story_038145432.html&headline=<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/election.gif " Border=0> 1:30 02/07/08 McCain seals GOP nomination as Romney suspends campaign&portal_url=http://www.joplinglobe.com&portal=joplinglobe){kind=link}
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