Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is expected to endorse U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, two sources familiar with the decision told CNN Thursday. Romney will ask his delegates to support Senator McCain.
Many believed after Mitt Romney's speech at the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), which all but officially endorsed John McCain, that this endorsement would come about sooner rather than later and it looks like today is the day.
At the CPAC, Romney's speech was eloquent and showed a man that cared more for his country and his party than he did fighting to win the presidency when his fight could endanger the Republican party as a whole and could possibly hand the Presidency to Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
"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 Qaeda and terror. 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.
According to Real Clear Politics, this is timed to cut Mike Huckabee out of the race before he could accrue more delegates that Mitt Romney had gathered before he dropped out of the race.
CNN approximates that Romney has 286 delegates and if all of them swing to McCain that would put McCain at 1,113 and the Republican candidate only needs 1,191 to win the nomination.
Romney is expected to announce his endorsement of the senator from Arizona at a news conference from Romney's Boston, Massachusetts, headquarters at 4 p.m. ET.
As MSNBC correctly points out, as per the RNC (Republican Nation Comittee) it depends on each state's rules on "releasing" delegates, as to whether Mitt Romney can simply "give" McCain his delegates.
There is still some question as to which delegates can be given to McCain and which ones cannot.
The rules are fuzzy here, so once I get a handle on them, I will update.
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