Romney: ‘I hate to lose’

LYNN – Dollars, not delegates, doomed Mitt Romney’s quest for the presidency this week, said local Republican State Committeeman Stephen Zykofsky.”It was going to be very difficult for him to keep his campaign viable going forward and to raise money,” Zykofsky said after viewing the results of Republican John McCain’s decisive primary showing across the nation Tuesday.Telling his supporters he “hates to lose,” Romney effectively sealed his party’s nomination of McCain by announcing Thursday he was ending his campaign.McCain prevailed in most of the Super Tuesday states, moving closer to the numbers needed to officially win the nomination. Overall, McCain led with 707 delegates, to 294 for Romney and 195 for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer’s convention in St. Paul, Minn.Zykofsky said Romney’s ultimate problem was his opponents’ ability to cast him as someone who “changed his mind on big issues.”After announcing his candidacy a year ago, Romney sought the support of conservatives with a family values campaign, emphasizing his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, as well as his support for tax cuts and health insurance that would benefit middle class families.But he was dogged by charges of flip-flopping. In seeking to unseat Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1994, Romney said he would be a better advocate for gay rights than his rival and he favored abortion rights.Zykofsky, who supported former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s campaign and has since endorsed McCain, said even if Romney remained in the race, McCain would probably have won enough delegates in four to six weeks to secure the nomination.Romney’s exit frees up McCain, with a nod to Huckabee’s popularity in southern states, to take aim at Democrat competitors Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.Clinton backer Agnes Ricko of Lynn said Clinton’s Tuesday wins in New York and California show she can win big states with large delegate counts. More battles for big states loom ahead for the Democrats with voters going to the polls in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.U.S. Rep. John Tierney has yet to endorse either candidate. He said Clinton managed to tip the scales on major endorsements for Obama by U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick with a strong local campaign organization.”She is a known commodity in Massachusetts,” he said.Although Republicans have their nominee in hand, Tierney thinks the Democratic Party will benefit from an Obama-Clinton fight “if people keep it on the high road.”