Romney, McCain close ranks
Mitt Romney endorsed one-time rival John McCain this afternoon, calling him "capable of leading the country at a dangerous hour."
"This is a man who served and suffered for his country," Romney said at his former headquarters in Boston's North End.
The two traded some tough barbs during the campaign and appeared to have personal enmity, and both seemed to acknowledge that history in the press conference.
"This isn't my first joint appearance with Senator McCain, but it promises to be the most pleasurable," said Romney, saying that things can get heated during a campaign.
"Primaries are tough," said McCain, thanking Romney for running a hard but honorable campaign that made him a better candidate. "...Now we move forward together for the good of our party and our country."
Romney introduced the Arizona senator as "the next president of the United States."
The two will campaign together and Romney will help him draw stark differences with the Democratic nominee on taxes, healthcare, and terrorism, McCain said.
Romney urged his 280 delegates to support McCain, who would get very close to the 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination if they all go along with Romney's wishes.
Mike Huckabee said that he is not convinced that all of Romney's delegates will support McCain, and suggested many will support him.
Huckabee said on CNN that he did not actively seek Romney's endorsement, and downplayed its significance.
"There's a lot of, 'Me, too,' going on now in the Republican Party," Huckabee said. "There's still a lot of Republicans around the country who have yet to vote."
He said as long as his supporters want him to stay in the race and promote conservative principles, he plans to do so until the nomination threshold is reached.
"It's not just out of stubborness," he said.
This is just what john mccain needs to gain support from die hard conservatives
Hmmmmm....so Romney who never ran or governed as a Conservative Republican in the State of Massachusetts ran as one in the presidential primaries. His stand on issues during the recent primaries was more aligned to those of Huckabee than they were with McCain. So why does it surprise anyone that he would flip-flop once again and endorse McCain!
Sleazy weasel, now sniffing around for the V.P. slot.
lol Typo!
You put "capable of leaving the county", Im pretty sure I could run the county too!
Elect James as president!
Oh, how I wish Huckabee would go away!!! He is not capable of running this country. He is wasting everyone's time. At least Romney has the maturity to move forward thinking of the bigger picture.
Hmmmmm....so Romney who never ran or governed as a Conservative Republican in the State of Massachusetts ran as one in the presidential primaries. His stand on issues during the recent primaries was more aligned to those of Huckabee than they were with McCain. So why does it surprise anyone that he would flip-flop once again and endorse McCain!
Crash and burn Huck. Your selfishness is a shame!
yeah. "leading the COUNTY." har har.
GREAT!!!!!! Now, Huckabee needs to do the same thing as Mitt Romney has done. It truly is for the good of the Country.
Chuck the Huck.
He's a bigoted mule headed fool who cannot stop the inevitable McCain nomination. Don't waste a vote on him.
Thank G. that Romney backed out of the campaign, after this stark betrayal of conservatives and independents (by supporting McCain) this man shouldn't be elected dog catcher. Its pathetic how all the Republican "club" members are so keen just to win that they don't give a damn about who their Candidate is or the will of the people. Neither McCain or Romney (after this) are fit to represent any interests other than their own. Ooops! I guess thats what they are doing. Let the civil unrest begin. One if by land,,,,,
Is it just me, or does John McCain remind anybody else of Golem from the Lord of the Rings? Prescioussssss, myyyy prescioussss! I only hope we the people can keep this martinet of a candidate away from the gold ring one more time!
I supported Mitt Romney but I now see that I was deceived. He is certainly a two faced flip flopper who can't be trusted. If he was really a hard core, morally upright, border hawk conservative, as he claimed to be, he would have supported ANYONE to stop McCain!
Saturday's headline
Romney Reneges on McCain Endorsement
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he never officially endorsed Sen. John McCain, but that he had imagined doing so.
Confirms what I suspected, that a deal had been cut between them...hello, VP Romney.
"country," not "county."
And so Romney positions himself to be second in command to the one who could be the oldest person ever to have the keys to the oval office men's room.
Big surprise. Another flip for Mitt.
Is Romney looking to a future of being vice-president to the oldest new president in our history?
Whatever my feelings for Mitt in polling for him at caucus, there is no way I can support McCain. When Mitt announced his suspension of his campaign, I immediately contacted our state republican leadership to withdraw/resign as delegate and precinct leader given the certain nomination of McCain.
I will vote for Obama or Clinton over McCain. Colorado elected some years ago Senator Ben Campbell off the democratic dime only to have him switch to the republican party in office. I applauded that. McCain is a democrat whether he chooses to admit that to others or himself. We will choose between two democrats in November -- of of the three remaining democrats McCain falls a distant third behind Obama and Clinton.
"a lot of Republicans around the country who have yet to vote" ---- yes, but who is there left to vote for???? I think there should be a national primary, all on the same day, because the system we now have disenfranchises voters in the later states. Since I happen to live in one of those states, I'm not too happy about it.
O ye nay sayers! Perhaps Romney can be in a cabinet position to help pull us out of the financial mess we are in. McCain can manage the ill disposed military mess. The Latino vote will go to McCain - and Romney is in sympathy with that.
Obama will win over Clinton, and the democrats will put us further in the hole financially. The health plan will do it.
I see this endorsement as more of an attempt to unite the Republican party. I think this is a call to stand united on conservative issues. I too, wondered about considering a vote now for Obama . However, I think it more important for the party to stay united and work for electing senators and reps. in Congress. All bills have to start in one of those two houses, not with president.
I imagine that every Republican in TX and the other states that have not yet had their primaries are mad about not having a choice. I think we should have all state primaries on the same day. There is no longer a need for the candidates to campaign in person except to tell one group one thing and another group the opposite. We need for the campaigning to be done on TV and the internet and newspaper and for it to be honest.
Romney was by far the best candidate, and he will have another chance in the future. In the meantime, he showed great class in stepping aside for the good of the party and the country. Huckabee could take a page from his book! He did the right thing in endorsing McCain, because we need to stick together to beat Obama and/or Hillary. The "flip flopper" label is a made up label because the critics could not find anything bad about Romney. Check his record. He has been more consistent in his policies than any other candidate!
Good for Mitt Romney!! He thinks more of our country than he does for what people think of him. Too bad he couldn't be our President.
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