Romney drops out

[ktinkel]

Anyone surprised? Romney has left the race (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/02/07/romney_suspends_but_may_be_ang.html).

Now we really are down to four!

[Peter Creasey]

Anyone surprised?

K, Something had to happen. Romney and Huckabee were "stealing" each other's votes. If they were sincere about their political preferences, one of them needed to back out so the other could try to thwart McCain. With both of them still in the race, they were ensuring that McCain's politics would carry the vote.

I haven't heard if Romney said why he quit but I'll bet it had something to do with the foregoing logic.

Truthfully, it made more sense for Huckabee to withdraw but it was increasingly evident that he would not do so. So, they were at loggerheads.

[earler]

Most likely he was running out of money and didn't wish to put any more of his own into a hopeless campaign.

[Dan in Saint Louis]

Romney has left the race (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/02/07/romney_suspends_but_may_be_ang.html).....
Not quite. By "suspending" his campaign, he keeps his delegates -- and becomes a power player at the convention. V-P or SecState is better than nothing.....

[Judy G. Russell]

Anyone surprised?Nope. He was running consistently third with no real chance to move up -- it was time and then some that he said enough. (He spent a fortune of his own money on this and I suspect he was reaching the point where it was just too obvious that he was throwing good money after bad.)

[earler]

His delegates are free to vote for whom they wish after the first round, so romney has no real control there. Only when there is a mexican standoff does a candidate have any control over delegates at the convention. In any case, romney is despised by the others and has a personality problem. He wouldn't be offered any post, except ambassador to chad or rwanda.

I think romney was 2nd and hukabee 3rd, by the way.

[Lindsey]

I think romney was 2nd and hukabee 3rd, by the way.
It's amazingly hard to get a hard number on the delegate count, even for the Republican candidates, but I think you're right, it looks like whatever the actual number is, Romney was ahead of Huckabee in number of delegates. He didn't win in many places, but he did win in two fairly large states -- Michigan and Massachusetts -- and since most of the Republican contests are winner-take-all, that bumped his numbers up considerably.

Both Romney and Huckabee are far behind McCain, of course.

--Lindsey