Romney departs
WASHINGTON DC: In a speech he is making around now Mitt Romney intends to say: "I hate to lose. But if I fight on, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or (Barack) Obama would win in November."
So he will depart leaving only Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and John McCain in the race - but only McCain with any hope of winning.
The 71-year-old has made it.
Mitt Romney looked at one stage last year as if he might be the answer to Republican prayers.
He had a background as a governor - he had run something - but he'd also been a very successful businessman, he had worked in the private sector.
There were problems though - first he is a Mormon, and there is some resistance, particularly among evangelical Christians, to a faith that many Americans regard as eccentric.
But he also had difficulty convincing his party that he held strong beliefs on some very important subjects. He appeared to change his tune on abortion rights, on immigration, and on gun ownership, to suit his presidential aspirations, and ultimately the party didn't buy it.
Mitt Romney is very wealthy - his fortune has been estimated at around $200m (£100m) and he used millions of those dollars of his own cash to fund his campaign.
It is interesting that the cash did not buy success.
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