Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, got a Valentine’s Day gift Thursday from his former rival, Mitt Romney, who is agreeing to throw his support to the Arizona senator.
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who left the presidential race last week after stinging defeats in the Feb. 5 primaries, announced his endorsement Thursday in Boston.
McCain has been the expected GOP candidate since Romney dropped out, though former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has continued to wage a spirited campaign aimed at evangelical and conservative voters.
Huckabee campaigned Thursday in Wisconsin before a trip to the Cayman Islands, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech to a group of young professionals this weekend.
Romney won about 280 delegates who will now be urged to back McCain, who began the day with 843 delegates. Huckabee had 242 delegates and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 14. The Romney delegates would be enough to put McCain past the 1,191 delegates needed for the GOP nomination.
But the real significance was more than mathematical.
McCain has been working in recent days to mend fences with conservatives who have considered him too liberal, in part for his support of immigration reform. During the often nasty primaries, Romney portrayed himself as the authentic conservative.
Romney chose a recent meeting of conservative leaders to announce his departure from the race. McCain also spoke at the meeting, where he was occasionally booed.
While Republicans basked in harmony, the Democratic race for the nomination became even edgier.
Buoyed by positive polls, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday lashed out at special interests while Sen. Barack Obama, her principal opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, announced a key endorsement in Rhode Island.
Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee announced his support for Obama, saying he backed the Illinois Democrat because of his opposition to the war in Iraq.
Rhode Island holds its primary March 4, the same day as primaries in Texas, Ohio and Vermont.
Brandishing a pair of boxing gloves, Clinton spoke Thursday to General Motors workers about economics. She proposed new restrictions on oil, insurance, credit card, student loan and Wall Street investment companies that she said would save middle-class Americans $55 billion a year.
“For seven long years, we’ve had a government of, by, and for the special interests, and we’ve had enough,” the New York senator said in prepared remarks. “It’s time to level the playing field against the special interests and deliver 21st-century solutions to rebuild the middle class.”
