Romney withdraws

I just heard on the radio that Romney is dropping out of the race. I can't blame him because he has little chance of capturing the nomination at this point and to go on he would have to pour his personal wealth into a pointless campaign.

I was hoping that he would stay in so that McCain would have to go on to the convention without ever receiving the votes of a majority of self-identified conservatives. A pyrrhic victory to be sure, but since there is no chance of a victory in November it was the best I could have hoped for.

For most of Mitt Romney's political career he was a moderate Republican whose positions on issues were not terribly far from those of John McCain. However Romney never went out of his way to attack conservative Republicans and he never lent his name and position to attempts to derail any aspect of the conservative agenda. And in recent times he has shown a strong move toward conservatism.

Perhaps Romney's drift to the right was inspired by his desire to run for president as a Republican, however he did make the effort and he was able to articulate sound principled reasons for his changes of position.

Mitt Romney was/is a brilliant businessman who would have brought a desperately needed understanding of how the economy works and how jobs are both created and destroyed to the White House at a time when the nation is facing a likely recession.

Mr. Romney is a good man and would have made a good president. His loss is the nation's loss as we are left with a slate of unacceptable candidates in both parties any of which will prove to be disastrous to the nation.

Here is a link to Mitt's speech before CPAC where he announced his withdrawal.

Here is a link to the Washington Post story about Romney's withdrawal.