Romney flipping his support, delegates to John McCain  Apparently Mitt Romney has been able to bury the hatchet with former campaign trail nemesis Senator John McCain. Romney endorsed McCain at his headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts just after 4:30 PM.
"It's easy to lose sight of your opponent's finer qualities, but in all honesty, I could never do that," Romney said of McCain in the press conference.
After accusing Democrats of striking herotic poses that were not sincere, he called McCain a real American hero.
McCain thanked Romney and made clear that he was taking leadership of the Republican Party.
"Gov. Romney will help me draw the stark differences that exist between myself, and the things he and I stand for and believe in, and the Democratic candidates," he said. "I look forward to his continued very important leadership role that he has exercised in the past and that I hope he will exercise in the future."
McCain will not only get Romney's backing, but possibly the delegates Romney accumulated through Super Tuesday.
"He will endorse the Republican front-runner on Thursday," according to an AP report. "Romney will release his 288 delegates and urge them to back McCain."
Prior to withdrawing from the presidential race last week, Romney may have preferred flipping Mccain the bird rather than flipping his support to the veteran Republican senator.
"He's consistently taken both sides of any major issue," McCain said of Romney in Jacksonville, Florida. "He has consistently flip-flopped on every issue."
And as far back as May 2007, McCain dinged Romney on a similar basis.
"I haven't changed my position even -- on even-numbered years or have changed because of the different offices that I may be running for," he said in an earlier campaign debate.
But while McCain has been critical of Romney for his alleged campaign flip-flops, this is one he's likely to be happy to accept. If Romney's 288 delegates get fully behind McCain, it furthers the notion of the inevitability of his presidential campaign, and does more to stanch Mike Huckabee's continuing efforts on the trail.
McCain and Romney both made an effort to paper over the appearance of cracks in their personal relationship.
"There's always strong disagreement, there may have been, but it was always characterized by respect and appreciation for Gov. Romney and I will hold that," McCain said.
Romney agreed.
"We always had good laughs together...we disagreed on some issues, and that's the nature of the good spirited debate," the former governor concluded.
 
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