ROMNEY VOWS TO STAY IN REPUBLICAN RACE
Andrew Clark in Boston
Guardian Unlimited
Wednesday February 6, 2008
Mitt Romney shrugged off a gloomy mood among his supporters with a
defiant promise to fight on despite a disappointing night in which
he struggled to win more than a handful of states.
The former Massachusetts governor was squeezed by an unexpectedly
strong performance by Mike Huckabee, who snatched crucial votes from
hard-line conservatives who dislike the frontrunner, John McCain.
At Boston’s convention centre, there was a sense of despondency among
many of Romney supporters despite upbeat blasts of rock tunes such as
"Don’t Stop Believing".
Flanked by his wife Ann and several of his five sons, Romney declared:
"The one thing that’s clear is that this campaign is going on."
"There some people who thought it was all going to be done tonight,"
said Romney. "But it’s not all going to be done. We’re going to keep
battling, we’re going to go all the way to the convention and we’re
going to win the White House."
Cheers at the Romney rally were few and far between. The crowd perked
up on news of victories in Massachusetts and Utah. But early hopes
of victories in Georgia and Delaware faded. Romney did his best
to improve the tempo – pledges to crack down on broken borders and
illegal immigration won huge applause.
Watching results appear on television, one Romney supporter complained:
"He’s being absolutely killed."
There is anger among many of Romney’s allies at Mike Huckabee’s
continuing presence in the race. Several Romney campaigners compared
the Arkansas preacher to Ross Perot or Ralph Nader – no-hopers who
only succeeded in wrecking others’ chances.
Jeffrey Davis Perry, a Republican representative in the Massachusetts
assembly, said: "By the end of tonight, conservatives will really
see their choices – a vote for Mike Huckabee is really a vote for
John McCain."
But Romney’s strategists are holding out hope for a surprise victory in
California and strong performances in other western states, providing
sufficient momentum to keep their man in the presidential race.
Romney earlier completed a 5,000-mile, coast-to-coast campaign dash
in 37 hours, taking in California, Oklahoma, Georgia and Tennessee,
as he hammered home his claim to be the conservative standard-bearer
of the Republican party.
He got back to his home in Belmont, an upmarket suburb of Boston,
in time to vote at the ornate, 19th-century town hall this afternoon.
Emerging from the polling station, Romney brandished a souvenir
ballot paper and declared that it was a privilege to vote not only
for himself but for his wife Ann and his oldest son, Tagg, who were
standing for the local Republican committee.
About 50 largely supportive local people gathered to catch a glimpse
of the candidate.
"He’s a very intelligent man, he’s a highly moral man, he’s run a
major organisation and the US is a huge organisation," said Eric
Cosman, a physics professor waiting to cheer on Romney.
Citing his Swedish and Armenian heritage, Cosman said he vehemently
opposes McCain’s softly-softly approach to illegal immigrants: "Most
Americans, like myself, have grandparents who really had to struggle
to get into the United States – and they did it the legal way."
A successful businessman, Romney has spent $35m of his personal fortune
on his two-year fight for the presidency. But he has been hampered by
suspicion over his Mormon faith in the Republican party’s Christian
base – a difficulty which came back into focus over the weekend, when
he broke off the campaign trail to attend the funeral of 97-year-old
Mormon patriarch Gordon Hinckley in Salt Lake City.
"There’s still a certain degree of fluidity in the race," said a
Romney spokesman. "It’s still a two-person race between us and McCain
because we can make an electability argument that Huckabee cannot."