Romney endorses McCain; Huckabee still in race

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com

February 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - After Mitt Romney announced he would support John McCain, urging his 280 delegates to follow suit, McCain's campaign claimed it had won the necessary delegates to secure the GOP nomination yesterday.

But countering that claim, The Associated Press said McCain began the day with 843 delegates yesterday and, even if all of Romney's delegates - 280 by the AP's count - go to McCain, he still falls short.

The endorsement by Romney, who quit the race last week, however, could go a long way to help McCain win over distrustful conservatives, especially if Romney campaigns for him in the months to come.

It also puts added pressure on holdout Mike Huckabee to quit a race he cannot possibly win, though Huckabee said again yesterday he will stay in until someone gets the 1,191 delegates needed to win.

McCain is definitely on track to clinch the nomination by the March 4 primaries in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont, if not before.

Romney's delegates are not obligated by party rules to support him. The 45 Romney delegates from Michigan, for example, became uncommitted when he quit the race. But it is likely they will.

Yesterday's endorsement apparently did not come easily, after McCain and Romney slashed each other with charges of duplicity, flip-flopping and being too "liberal."

Appearing together at a Boston news conference, Romney and McCain both noted their past battle as they sought to put it behind them.

"In the thick of the fight, it's easy to lose sight of your opponent's finer qualities," said Romney, who waited a week after his emotional withdrawal to make the announcement.

"But in the case of Senator John McCain, I could never quite do that," Romney said. "Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent."

McCain thanked Romney for a tough primary that "made me a better candidate," and said, "Now we move forward together for the good of our party and nation."

Romney's move also derails holdout Huckabee's apparent plan to rack up more delegates than he had in the race to be front-runner in 2012 should McCain not win this year.