First, an appreciative nod to a very deserving and capable candidate, Mitt Romney. He arguably ran one of the better campaigns organizing groups all across this nation. He deserves to be treated as a graceful and loyal Republican fighting hard to convey his views and conservatism to America. We appreciate his effort and he will have a very bright future with the Party in years to come. He showed that barriers can be crossed and many people now know and appreciate Romney.

Romney suspended his presidential campaign Thursday, telling a stunned conservative group that continuing his uphill battle against John McCain would hurt the Republican Party and make it more likely that the Democratic candidate would win the general election in November.

As early as yesterday, the Romney campaign was drafting a road map to winning the nomination, despite trailing McCain badly in the race for delegates. But according to a campaign spokesman, Romney decided to drop out as he was writing the CPAC speech late Wednesday.

The news was surely a blow to the CPAC audience, which appeared largely unaware of the former Massachusetts governor’s plan in the minutes before his speech. At least one Romney staffer was crying as he prepared to give his speech.

“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention … I’d forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I’d be making make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win,” Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference. “Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

“I will continue to stand for conservative principles; I will fight alongside you for all the things we believe in. And one of those things is that we cannot allow the next president of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism,” Romney said to cheers and applause as he closed out his speech.

A very classy speech by a gracious and worthy candidate. The ball is now fully in McCain’s court. He has to deliver his case and convince people to start uniting now. This crowd will be very hard to connect with because McCain has dismissed the CPAC in years pass. One might say, that McCain’s timing is bad. But he has leverage and importance on his side.