Posted on 02/14/2008 2:47:40 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos and John Berman Report: Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., today endorsed his former Republican rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The endorsement took place this afternoon at Romney for President headquarters in Boston.
Romney asked his delegates to throw their support to McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent," Romney said, standing with McCain for the announcement at his now-defunct campaign's headquarters in Boston. "As a party, we come together."
Accepting Romney's endorsement, McCain said despite a "hard campaign" now "we move forward together for the good of our party and the nation."
Once bitter rivals locked in an acrimonious Republican nomination fight, Romney abandoned his 2008 bid following a poor showing in the Super Tuesday contests this month. Romney had won the support of many in the conservative wing of the party, but failed to overtake McCain in either delegates or the number of state wins.
The former governor made his decision to endorse today in the interest of helping McCain gain the 1,191 delegates he needs to secure the party nomination and unite the party for the general election against the Democrats in November.
Romney campaign manager Beth Myers notified McCain campaign manager Rick Davis in a telephone call today of Romney's decision, and they immediately made arrangements for an announcement in Boston this afternoon since McCain was campaigning in Rhode Island today.
After McCain's townhall meeting near Providence this afternoon, the campaign is flying to Boston for the endorsement.
Romney and McCain will meet today before they both announce the formal endorsement at a press conference.
I don’t think Romney had much chance of being the nominee in 2012 anyway (assuming there isn’t a Republican incumbent). But if McCain is the nominee and is defeated, the number of people who will hold support of the Republican ticket of 2008 against Romney is probably less than the number of who would be mad at him if he failed to support the nominee.
>Great. Now let’s go defeat the Democrats
Sigh...
They are pretty much the same.
He will step down for Mitt then.
Mitt will be running for the Arizona’s Senate seat??
Way to go, Mitt!
A man of true decency.
I knew it was coming, but still, its not gonna sit well with the Willardites.
The liberal Romney comes out and endorses the moderate Mccain. Hopefully JohnnyMac won’t pull the ultimate boner and pick Romney as his running mate. He’s already got enough strikes against him.
So sad. I though Romney was smarter than that. He will now go on the list of people I will not vote for in the future.
He doesn't actually say what the calliber was.
I wonder if Romney is endorsing him rather than being quiet because..
Romney is more liberal than Huckabee, so Romney may actually like McCain's policies better.
I couldn't agree more.
McAtzlan's nomination will be the worst thing to happen to the Republican Party and Romney will have been a part of that.
“Romney is a gentleman and a scholar. Good man.”
He is probably all those things, but he is not a conservative.
No, Mitt is done, as is Huckabee probably, for the presidency. Everyone associated with this farce of a nomination process will be written off as damaged goods.
Actually, Huckabee, by not endorsing McCain until the bitter end (wasn’t he supposed to do that so long ago and get the VP nod?) may give himself some credibility with his voters in 4 years.
10 days is an eternity in politics. I wonder what happens if McCain keels over before he gets the nomination. The scramble of everyone to get back in will be funny.
“A man of true decency.”
So selling your soul to McCain for party favors is the defenition of decency now?
He is probably all those things, but he is not a conservative.
A 'good man' does not claim to be conservative when he clearly is not.
Why, for endorsing McQueeg when conservatives are trying to drive a stake thru his heart?
RINO²
Hunter’s endorsement of Huck looks better all the time. I have no love for Huck but endorsing the man who will lose the primary is better than endorsing the man who will lose the general election.
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