McCain close to victory as Romney quits

McCain close to victory as Romney quits

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who spent $35m of his own money to become president, yesterday abandoned his bid for the Republican nomination, leaving John McCain the almost certain nominee.

Mr Romney won a reputation as a Republican moderate in Massachusetts, but was criticised by his opponents in the presidential race for "flip-flopping" on issues such as abortion and gay rights as he attempted to recast himself as a conservative.

He made a partial recovery from early defeats in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, but was swept aside by Mr McCain in this week's Super Tuesday contests. Mr Romney's 4m votes in the primaries cost him roughly $8.75 apiece. Each of the 294 delegates he secured came at a personal price of $119,000.

"This isn't an easy decision," he told a conservative conference in Washington. "If this was about only me I'd go on, but it's never been only about me."

Mr Romney acknowledged differences with Mr McCain after months of increasingly bitter rivalry. But he came close to endorsing the Arizona senator by urging Republicans to unite to prevent the Democrats seizing the White House. "I entered this race because I love America and, because I love America in this time of war, I feel I now have to stand aside for our party and for our country," he said.

"If I fight on in this campaign all the way to the convention I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and I would be making it easier for Senator [Barack] Obama or Senator [Hillary] Clinton to win."

Mr Romney earned his estimated $200m personal fortune as co-founder of Bain Capital, the private equity company. He spent nearly three decades in the private sector before entering politics as governor of Massachusetts. He burnished his reputation for competent leadership by rescuing the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics from financial crisis. His campaign spending dwarfed that of his rivals but his heavy television advertising and strong grassroots organisation failed to compensate for his perceived lack of "authenticity".

His efforts to become the candidate of the right were also undermined by his Mormon faith and the unexpected appeal of Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas. Mr Huckabee has vowed to remain in the Republican race after his strong showing in several southern states on Tuesday, but he has virtually no chance of winning.

Mr McCain now faces a challenge to unify the Republican party after a bruising primary. He is still viewed with suspicion by many conservatives because of his record of compromise with Democrats on issues including immigration reform. Many audience members issued noisy pleas for Mr Romney not to withdraw as he addressed the Conservative Political Action Committee.

Mr Romney said every Republican could unite behind Mr McCain's pledge to remain on the offensive in the war on terror. "I disagree with John McCain on a number of issues but I agree with him that we do whatever it takes to succeed in Iraq and finding and executing Osama bin-Laden."

"Today we are a nation at war and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq. They would retreat and accept defeat."