http://www.cnn.com/…

Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would “forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win.”

“In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror. This is not an easy decision. I hate to lose,” the former Massachusetts governor said.

“If this were only about me, I’d go on. But it’s never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country.”

Romney made the announcement Thursday afternoon at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

With Romney out, Sen. John McCain is locked in as the front-runner in the GOP race.

Romney had won 286 delegates in through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with McCain’s 697.

The crowd booed when Romney mentioned McCain, saying, “I disagree with Sen. McCain on a number of issues.”

Interesting. I was really hoping he’d go all the way. This really changes things. Huckabee will either drop out soon and take the VP slot or will try to pick up Romney’s wins. Even though Romney’s main attack on McCain was that he wasn’t conservative enough I very much doubt that the only real conservative in the race will pick up Mitt’s delegates. Some are suggesting that Paul stay in the Republican race AND announce a third party run to both scare the Republicans and appease his supporters. At this point it may not be a bad idea but I’m not sure he can. I’m not familiar enough with the Republican and Libertarian party’s rules to say. An issue would arise with his congressional reelection campaign I would imagine.