***UPDATE***

The campaign just confirmed that Governor Romney’s endorsement of Senator McCain means he will be officially releasing his delegates and asking them to support McCain. When Romney stopped “actively campaigning” he still retained his delegates. After the endorsement they will be officially released.

Providence, RI — Fox News has learned that Governor Mitt Romney is endorsing Sen. John McCain this afternoon at Romney for President Headquarters in Boston, MA.

Romney will ask his delegates to support McCain, which would put him very close the 1,191 delegate threshold necessary to lock the nomination. Romney made his decision to endorse today in the interest of helping McCain gain the delegates he needed to secure the party nomination and unite the party for the general election against the Democrats in November.

Romney campaign manager Beth Myers notified McCain campaign manager Rick Davis in a telephone call today, and they immediately made arrangements for an announcement in Boston this afternoon since they were already campaigning in RI.

Romney and McCain will meet today before announcing the formal endorsement at a press conference.

per Shushannah Walshe

Warwick, RI — Fox News has learned that Governor Mitt Romney is endorsing Sen. John McCain this afternoon at Romney for President Headquarters in Boston, MA.

Romney will ask his delegates to support McCain, which would put him very close the 1,191 delegate threshold necessary to lock the nomination. Romney made his decision to endorse today in the interest of helping McCain gain the delegates he needed to secure the party nomination and unite the party for the general election against the Democrats in November.

Romney campaign manager Beth Myers notified McCain campaign manager Rick Davis in a telephone call today, and they immediately made arrangements for an announcement in Boston this afternoon since they were already campaigning in RI.

Romney and McCain will meet today before announcing the formal endorsement at a press conference.

 Is Governor Romney already thinking about a run in four years? Advisors are already calling him 45, as in the 45th president of the United States.

Click below to watch me to discuss it with Jon Scott on Weekend Live:

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Seattle, WA – One day after his chief rival for the GOP nomination dropped out, Sen. John McCain said among his priorities is now unifying a divided Republican party.

“We are very aware that there is some unification of the party that has to take place,” McCain said during a media availability on his plane Friday.

While the presumptive GOP nominee said he will continue his effort to outreach to party conservatives, some of whom remain skeptical about his record and credentials, McCain said he will not limit his message to the right in the coming months.

“I am trying to appeal to everyone in the party. I recognize that it is going to take a united and energized Republican party, all aspects of it, if we are going to have a chance to win the election in November,” he said, adding he also will look to attract “liberal Republicans” who supported Rudy Giuliani and even anti-war Republicans. “The formula for success in most campaigns is your base, independents and Reagan Democrats.”

McCain said he is looking to meet with Mitt Romney in the next week to discuss ways to help unite the party, noting that his former rival received more than 4 million votes in the early primary states. The Arizona senator also said he understood that it will take weeks, if not months before the party can regroup–based on his memories from his failed 2000 bid for the nomination.”

“After 2000, there were many McCainiacs that were very angry and bitter…a lot of people were bitter because when you invest your hard work and your effort and your passion to a candidate, you understand that there is a period there where you got to unify people and get them to recognize what the major goal is,” McCain said. “Primaries are tough. Primaries in some ways, as you well know, are tougher emotionally than a general election because of the nature of them and the personalization.”

Over a year of campaigning and upwards of 40 million dollars–Mitt Romney is no longer a candidate.

Click below to watch me explain his exit from the race and sum up my experience on “On the Record with Greta van Susteren”:

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A running log of reporting on Romney’s exit:

12:53 - I’m standing with staff. They confirm and say “he would have made a great president.” At least one staff member is crying.

12:54 - Excerpt from Romney’s withdrawal speech at CPAC: “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

2:02 - About ten people knew before today, including campaign manager Beth Myers, Admaker Stu Stevens, Communications Director Matt Rhoades, National Spokesman Kevin Madden, Deputy Chief of Staff Peter Flaherty, Legislative Affairs staffer Cindy Gillespie, Traveling Press Secretary Eric Fehrnstrom and Advance Staffer Will Ritter…

And, of course, Ann and their five sons were involved in the decision. The whole family was in total agreement. Ann was with him when he wrote his CPAC speech. The majority of the staff was not told until today, though some of the senior staff suspected after meeting with the Governor yesterday.

The final decision came around 2000 EST last night, when the Governor emailed a rough draft of the speech to the above individuals.

Romney has said previously that he would support the GOP nominee, and today’s comments were a “sort of endorsement,” but no plans have been made for an official endorsement.

Right after his speech, Romney met with his two senior finance chairs, and is now en rote to the Capitol Hill Club to thank his congressional supporters. Tonight’s event in Baltimore has been cancelled.

The campaign is still maintaining that they thought there was a pathway to the nomination, but the Governor is “nothing if not pragmatic.”

He will now go home to Massachusetts and get some rest.

(more…)

Boston, MA—

Mitt Romney greeted his supporters at his election night party flanked by his wife Ann and three of his sons and their wives. Members of the Massachusetts Republican delegation stood behind Romney on the stage. He already had wins in his home state of Massachusetts, Utah and North Dakota, but the rest was still unclear:

“At this stage, it is really hard to tell how many delegates we are going to get because a lot of states of course we haven’t heard from, the Western states. We know that is going to be close and interesting in states,” Romney said, “All over the West so we are going to see what kind of numbers come in. We will add those numbers up and have them bright and early in the morning. My guess is at our home we will stay up a little bit later than most of you will.”

That’s after his all-nighter last night and the campaign pressing that the presidential hopeful will get some sleep tonight.

The former Massachusetts governor made it clear that his campaign will not end tonight even with disappointing losses in states like Georgia, Missouri, and West Virginia. He said he will go to the Republican National Convention:

“Some people who thought it was all going to be done tonight, but it is not all done tonight. We are going to keep on battling. We are going to go all the way to the convention. We are going to win this thing and we are going to go to the White House.”

Romney stayed upbeat and enthusiastic staying mostly on his stump. He did quip that he disagreed with his wife, a rare occasion:

“Ann came to me and she said you know the one thing that is clear tonight is that nothing’s clear but I think she’s wrong. One thing that is clear is this campaign is going on.”

At this point Romney has picked up Massachusetts, Utah, North Dakota, Colorado, Montana, and Minnesota. John McCain has won California, a hard loss for the Romney camp. But, we will not know what that means in terms of delegates for quite awhile.

Watch an excerpt here:

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Boston, MA–

Fox News projects that Romney wins Minnesota and Colorado. After campaigning in Minnesota 3 days ago and getting enthusiastic crowds both are  important wins for the campaign.

Boston, MA–

Fox News projects a win in Montana for Governor Romney.

Boston, MA–

Fox News projects Romney will win North Dakota. His wife, Ann campaigned for him there 3 days ago.