The following is a portion of the text from the Senator’s remarks earlier today.

I know I have a responsibility, if I am, as I hope to be, the Republican nominee for President, to unite the party and prepare for the great contest in November. And I am acutely aware that I cannot succeed in that endeavor, nor can our party prevail over the challenge we will face from either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama, without the support of dedicated conservatives, whose convictions, creativity and energy have been indispensible to the success our party has had over the last quarter century. Many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions I have taken in recent years. I understand that. I might not agree with it, but I respect it for the principled position it is. And 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. Further, I hope you will grant that I have defended many positions we share just as ardently as I have made my case for positions that have provoked your opposition. If not, thank you for this opportunity to make my case today.

This video picks up at roughly the half way point of the speech:

I watched this speech live today and thought the Senator did a respectable job of presenting his case at CPAC.

While he has broad support among moderate Republicans and Independents, we will need to see if this speech and his presumptive nomination begin to sway the base to rally behind him.

One would hope so given the alternatives.

*Update: This from Mark Noonan who was in attendance at CPAC today:

Romney’s speech was excellent - a clear, concise explanation of what America faces and why it is time for all to unite behind the man who is our chance to keep Obama/Hillary - and their destructive and divisive policies - out of the White House. Romney has shown himself a good patriot, and made himself the most logical pick for McCain’s Vice President.

McCain’s speech was well-received except by a few, scattered Paul supporters. The McCain supporters were, naturally, on fire for their man, while the Romney supporters were in a “we’ve got to win” mood, and thus seemed willing to give McCain his chance. In the substance of McCain’s speech was two main things: a litany of conservative principles he’ll adhere to (low taxes, spending reform, winning the war, etc) as well as a re-affirmation that he does, indeed, have people who disagree with him and with whom he disagrees, but that disagreements should not lead us to shoot ourselves in the foot in November. To these sentiments I offer my heartfelt agreement.

Read the rest here.

*Update: It’s official. Romney has dropped out. Here is the text of the speech which included his withdrawal from the race.

Thanks to Hot Air we now have the video available:

May I say, done with class and for all the right reasons. While many on the left might accuse the Governor of using scare tactics with his talk of terrorism, I have always viewed National Security priority one.

We must win in Iraq, not surrender and Romney seems to have a complete grasp of that issue.

*Update (2): Could we see an endorsement of Senator McCain this evening by the Governor?

It would seem to be so if this report from Breitbart is accurate:

WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering presidential campaign.

“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,” Romney will say at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

“This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters… many of you right here in this room… have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country,” Romney said.

More here and here.

Nothing new with the party that tried to stop the votes of the armed forces members from being counted in Florida in 2000, but now if you voted in the Florida primary or the Michigan primary the DNC wants you hold caucuses. That way your delegates can be seated at the convention without a fight since the DNC didn’t like you moving your primary date up so you could have a voice.

Of course, the only candidate who ran in either state was Hillary Clinton so if they allow the primaries to stand she would get all the delegates from those two states.

LANSING, Mich. — The Democratic National Committee is pressuring Michigan and Florida to hold Democratic presidential caucuses so the delegates they’ve lost for holding January primaries could be seated at the national convention, a top Michigan Democrat said Wednesday.

DNC member Debbie Dingell said it’s unclear whether either state would hold caucuses since they’ve already held primaries. But she said the DNC is asking the two states to consider such a plan.

DNC spokesman Damien LaVera had no comment.

But Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said the DNC isn’t saying anything it hasn’t said before to Michigan and Florida.

”Everybody involved, the candidates, the DNC and we, need to remain open-minded. So if someone comes up with a creative way that meets everyone’s interests, we can do that” and get the delegates seated, he said.

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski agreed with Brewer that the DNC’s position isn’t new. But he said the party has no intention of holding another election.

”We’ve said all along that we’re going forward with our delegate selection program using the vote on Jan. 29,” he said. ”We’ve got more delegate applications than ever.”

When people start hollering about disenfranchisement during the general election, just be sure to pin the problem where it lies. A party that willingly disenfranchises its own delegates from a primary will do all it can to scream the other party disenfranchised voters all across the country. That’s become the norm since 2000. Thank you, Al Gore.

And the Republicans’ hands are not clean on this issue either as a couple of states dared to hold their primaries earlier than allowed by the RNC.

Both parties should let every vote count regardless of when it was taken.