CNN: Mitt Romney is out

Badly hobbled in Florida and completely undercut by California, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is quitting the race, according to CNN. That report is here.

Florida had a lot to do with Romney's rise and fall. By being the first candidate to launch a serious campaign in the fourth largest state, and surrounding himself with prominent GOP operatives and elected officials, he signaled that he was a candidate to be reckoned with. The excitement surrounding his Florida debut, a standing-room-only crowd at the Villages retirement community, was palpable.

But he suffered a setback when the state party decided against a straw poll, where he hoped to make a splash. (Let the conspiracy theories begin, since the call was made by Gov. Charlie Crist who later endorsed John McCain.)

Then he made a major faux paus in the influential Cuban-American community, when he inappropriately used a trademark phrase of Fidel Castro during a speech in Miami. Despite his emphasis on Spanish media, he tanked among Hispanic voters in Florida's primary last Tuesday, perhaps partly because of his hardline stance on immigration.

His last stand was supposed to be in California, where polls showed he was in reach of winning the largest state that voted on Super Tuesday. But bouyed by his victory in Florida, McCain took that state and most of the others.

Comments

[Kathy Smock]

NO ! NO ! NO ! I would rather vote for Obama than McCain,,,,and I might just do that. Romney could have saved the country economically... his business sense has been proven.

[elr]

Mitt Romney fought a good fight. He would have been a great leader. We still have Mike Huckabee in the race. Maybe we conservatives still have a chance. If John McCain is the nominee, I will not vote.