The Mitt surprise

Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race in an attempt to strengthen the Republican Party. His presidential bid and the in-fighting between him and Senator McCain was weakening the party and thus compromising the Republicans' chance of keeping the White House. 

See the video and full coverage on the NYTimes page.

This year's primary was very unusual for the Republicans who, in the past, found a front-runner rather quickly (before Super Tuesday) and then used the rest of the campaign to consolidate the position of the nominee. The convention was simply a final show of unity, a big party celebrating the GOP and the launch of the national campaign.

So we might now be back on this traditional pattern of GOP primaries, it all depends on Mike Huckabee's reading of the situation.

Will Romney's dropping out benefit Mike Huckabee with whom he was vying for the evangelical and socially conservative voters? Or will Huckabee find himself forced to drop out as well in order not to appear as the obstinate divider of Republicans? Is he going to continue in the primary but in a friendly manner in order to gain some Vice-Presidential appeal? 

How does all this change McCain's position? How far will he go to appeal to the broad conservative base and solidify his position as a front-runner? 

Watch a 2 minute video on McCain. 

Read the NYTimes article on the impact of this on McCain's campaign. 

The picture is from the NYTimes website.