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Richard Piatt reportingMitt Romney suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday. Romney made a hard run and spent about $40 million of his own money in the process. He received 4 million Republican votes to John McCain's 4.7 million votes, but he won just 11 states and only a quarter of the delegates.
Romney says he's getting out so Republicans can focus on beating the Democrats.
"Now if I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I'd forestall the launch of a national campaign, and frankly I'd be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney said.
He announced his withdrawal at C-PAC, the annual convention of conservatives. Now that Romney has suspended his campaign, all those Utah Republicans who supported him will have to choose some other candidate. But will that candidate be John McCain? We asked that question in an exclusive Dan Jones poll for KSL TV and the Deseret Morning News.
Remember, 90 percent of Utah Republicans voted for Mitt Romney Tuesday. Many of them say they just can't vote for John McCain for president. We wanted to find out if that was true.
The crowd at the Conservative political Action Conference might have reflected the mood here in Utah after Mitt Romney said he was out of the race. On the other hand, John McCain got only tepid response from the conservative crowd. So, will they, and voters in Utah, cast a ballot for McCain this fall?
A Dan Jones flash poll for KSL TV and the Deseret Morning News has interesting results. When a sampling of all Utah voters was asked, "With Romney out, for whom would you likely vote?" Thirty percent said John McCain. But 25 percent said Barack Obama, and 22 percent say they don't know. Hillary Clinton got 11 percent, Mike Huckabee 2 percent in the poll.
A key factor in the upcoming months will be when or whether Romney supports McCain.
Kirk Jowers, with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, says, "The most important person in the world for McCain is Mitt Romney. If Romney will endorse John McCain and back him on things other than his approach to terrorism and the war, that will repair and mend bridges with the communities that are nervous and upset about McCain."
When we asked if voters thought McCain is conservative enough to represent Republicans, 43 percent said yes; 41 percent said no. Some call Romney "the conservative's conservative" in the race. McCain now has to figure out how to gather more of that same support.
This poll reflects Republicans, Democrats, and Independents across the state. More details on the poll will be in Friday's edition of the Deseret Morning News.
Romney's next move in the face of a poor showing on Super Tuesday came up in our conversation this week with Meet The Press Moderator, Tim Russert.
"It's very hard to get out. It's like a great athlete when it's time to retire, it's the biggest decision you have to make. Romney is only 60. He's a young 60. I think he has a long life and a long political life ahead of him," Russert said.
Russert said Thursday night, Romney "is looking at 2012, no doubt about it."
