Mc Cain set to become Republican nominee as Romney quits

“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,” he told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

“This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters... many of you right here in this room... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming president. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America.”

MR Romney’s decision leaves MR McCain as the top man standing in the Republican race, with Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul far behind in the delegate hunt.

It was a remarkable turnaround for Mr McCain, who some seven months ago was barely viable, out of cash and losing staff. The four-term Arizona senator, denied his party’s nomination in 2000, was poised to succeed George Bush as the party’s standard-bearer.

Mr Romney’s decision came after Mr McCain won most of the Super Tuesday states, moving closer to the numbers needed to officially win the nomination.

Overall, he led with 707 delegates, to 294 for Mr Romney and 195 for Mr Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer’s convention.

“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 Qaida and terror,” Mr Romney said.

His departure from the race came almost a year after his formal entrance, when he declared his candidacy on February 12, 2007.

Over the ensuing 12 months, he sought the support of conservatives with a family values campaign, emphasising his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, as well as his support for tax cuts and health insurance that would benefit middle-class families.

“We need to teach our children that before they have babies, they get married,” he told voters at his campaign events.

But he was dogged by accusations of flipping from one position to the opposite, a criticism that undermined the candidacy of another Massachusetts hopeful John Kerry in 2004.

In seeking to unseat Edward M. Kennedy in 1994, Mr Romney said he would be a better advocate for gay rights than his rival and he favoured abortion rights.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Romney was questioned by voters and the media about his Mormon faith.

Hoping to assuage voters sceptical of electing a Mormon president, he gave a speech in December that explicitly recalled remarks John F. Kennedy made in 1960 in an effort to quell anti-Catholic bias. He vowed to serve the interests of the nation, not the church, if elected president.

In early voting in Iowa, Mr Romney sought votes by casting himself as the guardian of the Reagan-era conservative triad – a three-legged stool, as the candidate put it – of a strong national defence, strong economy and strong families.

Fuelled by what would grow to more than 35 million dollars of personal donations, his campaign hired top-notch staff in the early voting states, and he scored an early win when his organisation topped the field at the Iowa Straw Poll in August.

By that time, the national front-runners, Mr McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, had virtually ceded the lead-voting state to Mr Romney.

Instead, Mr McCain focused on New Hampshire, second on the calendar, while Mr Giuliani employed an untested strategy of waiting out the early primary contests and instead staking his candidacy on a strong showing in the Florida vote.

Mr Romney’s goal was to score back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, clearing the field and creating momentum to roll through Florida and seal the nomination in the Super Tuesday contests.

Instead, he was beaten in Iowa by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister who received an unexpected outpouring of support in the caucuses from voters identifying themselves as evangelicals.

Five days later, Mr Romney suffered a second consecutive defeat in New Hampshire, when Mr McCain won the primary in part with the support of independents attracted to his self-styled maverick campaign.

Mr Romney, who headed the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, tried to cast each defeat in competitive terms, saying his second-place finishes amount to “silver medals.” He also highlighted the “gold” he won in between and in the little-watched Wyoming caucuses.

Mr Romney and Mr McCain went head-to-head in the January Michigan primary, and Mr Romney won, in part by highlighting his background as a business consultant and venture capitalist.

As the calendar progressed, however, Mr McCain picked up a big win in the South Carolina primary.

Ten days later, the two squared off again in the Florida primary, where Mr McCain scored a major upset after winning endorsements from the state’s two top elected Republicans

The following day Mr Giuliani dropped out of the race and endorsed Mr McCain. A day later California governor Arnold Schwarzeneger announced his endorsement of Mr McCain, reflecting a coalescing of Republican support behind the senator as he approached the Super Tuesday showdown with Romney.