Mitt Romney, a onetime favourite for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, stunned supporters by suspending his campaign on Thursday.

The former Massachusetts governor’s decision clears the path for Sen John McCain to be the Republican nominee in November.

Romney’s announcement follows his poor showing in the Super Tuesday elections in which McCain emerged as a strong front-runner. Romney had won 286 delegates through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with McCain’s 697.

Romney said if he continued his campaign it would “forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win.”

Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen Barack Obama are locked in a fierce battle for the Democratic Party’s nomination.

Lambasting the Democrats for being weak in the war on terror, Romney said: “In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror. This is not an easy decision. I hate to lose.”

“If this were only about me, I’d go on. But it’s never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country,” he said, as supporters urged him not to give up. Romney was speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.

Former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee and Congressman Ron Paul are still campaigning for the Republican Party nomination, but both men have nowhere near as many delegates as McCain.

McCain is not seen as “conservative enough” by his party’s right wing. And their displeasure at him becoming their presumptive nominee was evident at the CPAC meeting when mention of his name was frequently greeted with boos. Even Romney acknowledged he disagreed with McCain on “a number of issues.”

“But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and I agree with him on eliminating al Qaeda and terror worldwide,” he added.

McCain, who spoke later in the day at the CPAC meeting, acknowledged the differences he has had with his party’s conservatives. “Many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions I have taken in recent years,” he said.

“I understand that. I might not agree with it, but I respect it for the principled position it is.”

McCain appealed to the group saying, “it is my sincere hope that even if you believe I have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that I have, in many ways important to all of us, maintained the record of a conservative.”

On the Republican side, when a candidate suspends a campaign decisions on how to allocate their delegates are left to the state parties. Superdelegates are always free to support any candidate at any time, whether the candidate drops out, suspends his or her campaign or stays in.

Meanwhile, McCain could see some significant support coming his way. The Washington Post reported President George W. Bush plans to endorse the Arizona senator, his onetime rival for the presidency.

In a speech to the CPAC on Friday, Bush plans to say that the nominee of the party will be a strong conservative, according to excerpts released by the White House.

“We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry the conservative banner into this election and beyond,” Bush says in the excerpts.

Bush does not mention McCain by name, but the clear signal of his words to this particular audience is that the senator is a faithful conservative despite their doubts and it is time to put aside internal disagreements and rally behind the apparent nominee to be, the Post reported.

Army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has given final approval of recalling serving officers from the civil departments, an army press release here said.

Addressing 106th Corps Commanders’ Conference, Gen Kayani said the army would have no role in the electoral process except maintaining law and order. He said holding free and fair elections was the sole responsibility of the Election Commission.

“The army will meet only its constitutional obligations and help the civil administration maintain law and order, as and when required,” he said.

According to an official press release, he approved a policy about ‘de-induction’ of serving officers seconded to civil departments. The number of serving officers, whose services are essentially required by the government in these departments, would be at bare minimum and others would be reverted soon.

The participants were given a comprehensive briefing on security environment.

Gen Kayani dilated on the evolving geo-political dynamics and stressed the need to coordinate the efforts of the nation and the army to ensure peace and stability. He said the army would live up to the expectations of the nation.

Gen Kayani praised the sacrifices and spirit of all officers, junior commissioned officers and jawans in the ongoing operations. He appreciated the leadership of officers in particular, who were leading from the front as per the true tradition of the Pakistan Army.

He declared the Year 2008 as the “Year of the Soldier”, he approved a package of Rs 10 billion for improving the quality of life of soldiers and young officers.

St Louis, February 8
A suburban city council meeting transformed into a scene of carnage when an enraged gunman burst in and shot seven people, five fatally, the police has said.

He managed to kill two police officers and three city employees before the police shot him dead, St Louis county police spokeswoman Tracy Panus told AFP yesterday.

The man, who had a history of disturbing council meetings with off-point complaints about persecution by officials, rushed into the council chambers around 7 pm local time, witnesses said.

"He came from the back of the room," said Janet McNichols, a St Louis Post Dispatch reporter who was covering the meeting in Kirkwood.

"He kept something about, 'Shoot the mayor' and he just walked around shooting anybody he could."

The shooter first targeted a policeman in the meeting, said McNichols, who looked up to see officer Tom Ballman shot in the face. He then shot public works director Kenneth Yost, who was also hit in the head, she said.

"After that, I was on my stomach under the chairs," she said. "I laid on my stomach waiting to get shot. Oh God, it was a horror." McNichols recognised the man, identified as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, as a frequent presence at city council where he often directed angry words at Yost and the mayor.

The gunman had also shot and killed a police officer in a parking lot about a half a block from the city government building where the meeting was being held, police said.

Thornton, who had twice been convicted of disorderly conduct for disrupting city council meetings and had been handcuffed and pulled from a meeting in May 2006, recently sued the city for prohibiting him from speaking out at meetings.

Thornton, who had represented himself, said his free speech rights had been violated. A judge dismissed the case on January 28. — AFP