Mitt Romney quits

I've often referred to Mitt Romney as "the John Edwards of the Republican Party."  This is less a judgment of Romney as much as it's just a comment on the stereotypically slick politician vibe that he tends to give off.  Personally, I suspect that Romney is probably a little bit more sincere than Edwards but then again, who isn't?

Well, Romney has once again followed in Edwards footsteps by unexpectedly ending his presidential campaign.  Of course, the Edwards campaign was pretty much dead from the minute he failed to win Iowa.  Romney, though his campaign was definitely struggling, was still doing well enough to justify continuing his campaign for a few more primaries.  In short, Romney's announcement is as surprising as the Edwards announcement was supposed to have been.

Romney's official reason for leaving the race?  He has said that it is more important, at this point, that the entire party rally around the clear front-runner for the nomination (John McCain) and concentrate all efforts on defeating either Hillary or Obama in November.

In short, Romney is officially taking one for the team.

It's actually a pretty smart move on his part.  If McCain wins the nomination and then loses in November, Romney will start 2012 with a strong campaign organization already in place.  (Though, again, we are reminded of John Edwards.)  If McCain wins the nomination and the general election, Romney will receive at least some credit for helping the Republicans hold onto the White House.  Again, this puts him in a good position for 2012 or (should McCain run for a second term at the age of 76) even 2016.

Of course, if Mike Huckabee wins the nomination, Mitt Romney's pretty much screwed regardless of who actually wins in November.  If Huckabee wins, than it shows that Romney's claim that the Republican Party needs to concentrate on the general election as opposed to drawing out the primary fight was incorrect.  And if Huckabee loses, Romney will be blamed for not providing any other "conservative" alternative to John McCain.

And if Ron Paul wins the nomination than I'll be both so shocked and so happy that I really won't give a damn what Mitt Romney does with the rest of his life.

We'll hear from Mitt Romney again.  Any man who would voluntarily run for public office in Massachusetts as a Republican has to be addicted to the experience of being a candidate.  Even if Romney doesn't run for President again, I wouldn't be surprised to see him running for office in any of his three home states.