He is wasting his fortune by staying in. Huckabee, on the other hand, may stay in to keep McCain "honest" for the religious right.
If Romney opts out, it is officially over. Huckabee has no chance. He might stay on, but McCain will win pretty much every remaining state on a 1-1 fight with Huckabee.
posted it as I heard it on CNN. Withdrawal may be a strong word, the campaign only mentioned serious discussions and friday schedule in doubt.
Huck has no real reason to cash his chips yet. He's getting more bang for his campaign buck than any other candidate, by a long shot. He's been marginalized for the last 3 weeks and he still carried the south and held his own in several other places like Mizzou. Impressive by any standard.
National polls show McCain easily defeating HRC or Obama, although it's obviously very early for any serious predictions.
National polls doesn't show that. With the margin of error, the polls show McCain in a tie with Hillary (but leading) and actually losing to Obama. But Hillary is the nominee, I think she will win against McCain. The Clintons are formidable campaigners. If there is anybody in the democratic camp who could make some Rovean tactics work, it's them.
These are the "conservatives" the Republican party offers to the American people? Prepare yourself for an Obama presidency.
On the radio last night, they said Romney wife told him to stop spending their personal money on the campaign. Last I hear, he had spent about $40 million of his own money. What is Rush going to do if Romney gets out?
"So, do the Republicans really think McCain can win in November? " Yes. Very possible. "What will Rush do..." The McCain haters will grouse for 2 months, then accept the inevitable. If the conservatives don't show in an organized way, the big soco groups will lose whatever cache they had with the party and lose their access in any GOP administration. Once it's down to general candidates, the dynamic completely shifts. The Cons will no longer be deciding between who they like least among the GOP, and facing the real possibilty of Obama or Hillary. They will come around.
I think Romney will get out. California loss was just too great, McCain took the whole state, Romney got virtually no traction. Had he done about even in CA, then he would have pressed on with his six wins last night. Huckabee came oh so close to actually keeping this race going. Had he pulled out Missouri (McCain win by 1% point) his delegate haul would have been better b/c Missouri was winner take all. Huckabee has polled well in Texas, which is the biggest winner take all state of the season. If Huck could have won Missouri and carried Texas that might have been enough to encourage Romney to stick around and fight McCain in Ohio in an effort to prevent McCain from getting enough delegates to win the nomination prior to the convention. However, the California sweep pretty well ended any path of preventing McCain from getting the delegates to win. He should do well in the Maryland, DC and Virginia contests next week. That will get him close to the magic number. There is no strategy left that gets either Romney or Huckabee enough delegates to win on their own. The only course left for either of them, and it seems highly unlikely that either will take it, is to try and keep McCain from getting enough delegates to win before the convention and steal the nomination from under him there. No one is willing to go nuclear like that.