Ladies and Gentlemen of the United States, I say ye, Mitt Romney!

For the good of the party, and to do his part in the war on terror, Mitt Romney has stepped aside. Gov. Romney has realized that he probably cannot win the nomination this time and has conceded the race to John McCain. (You can see the video of his concession speech here. I applaud him even as I am sorry to see him drop out. Mitt Romney is truly the most conservative candidate in this race, and a man that in these current economic times would be extremely valuable to have as the leader of the free world. Governor Romney, I salute you!

So what happened here? Why was this man so sure that he had a shot at winning the nomination to be his party's representative in the race to be President of the United States of America that he spent $40 million (that's $40,000,000!!!) of HIS OWN MONEY to make the attempt? What was Mitt Romney's downfall? First of all, Mitt Romney is coming late to the conservative party, as it were. He has made a lot of comments in the past that tag him as a liberal, especially in social areas such as abortion and sanctity of marriage/gay rights. That already made him a little suspect. Second, Mike Huckabee happened. The little known governor from Arkansas with his Southern Baptist roots was able to energize that group formerly known as the Religious Right to take away the other half of the conservative coalition that was able to put Ronald Reagan and the Bushes in the White House and allow the Republicans led by Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America to hold Congress for 12 years. The result? John McCain, presumed moderate despite his vocal protests, was able on Super Tuesday to forge a lead that looks to be unsurmountable.

My last post noted two things Sen. McCain needs to do. In his speech to the Conservative Political Action Coalition, he proceeded to do just that. He addressed his rhetoric to the Democratic platform and not Mike Huckabee, and he reached out to this very influential conservative group and, though he didn't get all the way back, at least set the stage for a great deal of influence from the conservative side of the G.O.P. I will write more on this later. For now, I want to thank Gov. Romney for a great run, and for his selfless actions today. God bless you, sir.