So says Time. Seems a bit premature to me, but then if he believes he can not win, why not give the party more time to heal and prepare for the November run?
Update: 1:15 PM Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race.
I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. 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.This is an interesting strategy, and essentially sets up the key issue for the next campaign to be the War on Terror. Up until now, the Democrats were comfortable that their supporters were against the War in Iraq, so they have been running on Universal Health Care and other Economic issues. Now, they will have to return to the debate. And the American people have not made up their mind yet.
The one good thing to say: I think we can say with confidence that Mitt Romney did NOT lose because of his Mormon faith. In the end, nearly everyone I knew who decided not to vote for him had a real different with his political positions or his character.
3 comments:
I'm not sure we can say his Mormon Faith was not a reason that he did not win. I know enough Christians that weren't comfortable with his faith that it wouldn't surprise me if they would not have moved to him if Mike Huckabee had dropped out of the race.
I don't think he lost votes to McCain because of his Mormon faith.
I think Romney realized something that others have speculated. Huckabee is in the race to take out Romney so that there can be a McCain-Hucakabee ticket. Then again, I could be wrong... We could see a McCain-Romney ticket. If it really is McCain-Huckabee, then Huckabee would stay in the race as long a Romney was in, but wouldn't have to spend the big money to win, just enough to block Romney.
My own take is that Huckabee expects some sort of McCain-Huckabee ticket, and stayed in partially because he knew he could win in the south (and either is naive enough to think he can win the whole thing, or wants to set up a run in 2012) and he thinks he has a chance at the vice-presidency. He was getting pretty chummy with McCain recently.
The thing is, I think McCain will see Huckabee as a threat now, and Huckabee doesn't bring much to McCain that McCain doesn't already have (he already polled well in the south, his social positions are more or less conservative). So I don't know if a McCain-Huck ticket will happen. I think much of Huckabee's actions have been to nudge that reality closer.
I do agree with CRChair that Romney's Mormon faith was a sticking point more than people would like to admit. I do hope he runs again, I think he is a good leader with good ideas and an outsider perspective on Washington (not to mention invaluable economic knowledge and experience).
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