Romney Drops Out of Race

Mitt Romney is dropping out of the race for president after failing to rack up significant numbers of delegates on Super Tuesday.

Romney made the announcement today at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a yearly gathering of conservatives in Washington, D.C. His remarks can be found here.

Romney has spent at least $50 million of his own money so far in the campaign but was only able to win a handful of states on Super Tuesday - Massachusetts and Utah and the GOP caucuses in Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. He also picked up the GOP nomination earlier this week in Maine and also won in Michigan.

But his total number of delegates only came up to 133, placing him third in the GOP race. He needed 1,191 to win the nomination.

Romney's successful run for the governor's office in Massachusetts has long been seen as his launchpad for higher office and he served only a single term. His decision not to run again broke the hold the Republicans have had on the governor's office here over nearly two decades.

He also ran unsuccessfully for U.S. senator against Democrat Edward M. Kennedy in 1996.

Despite winning Massachusetts overall, Romney lost to John McCain among voters in the western end of the state by a 2-1 margin in many towns. Romney rarely ventured west of Springfield while in office and had little support here in his run for governor.

Both his predecessors, A. Paul Celucci and Jane Swift, of Williamstown, are strong McCain supporters. Romney is the third prominent Massachusetts politician to fail in a bid for the White House in the last 20 years: former Gov. Michael Dukakis was the Democratic nominee in 1988 and U.S. Sen. John Kerry the Democratic nominee in 2004.