memeorandum: Sadr City raided; 1 Iraqi killed (Hamid Ahmed/Associated Press)

2:20 PM ET, February 7, 2008

Top Items:

Krooney / The Page:

Romney Quits Race — Says time of war is not the right time to continue GOP fight: “I feel I have to stand aside.” — Read full remarks at the CPAC conference here. — Did not endorse McCain. — AP: Decision effectively cedes nomination to McCain. — HALPERIN'S TAKE: TEN THINGS MITT ROMNEY COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

Discussion: Wizbang, TownHall Blog, Taylor Marsh, Political Machine, DownWithTyranny!, Donklephant, LiberalLand, A Blog For All, All Spin Zone, rubber hose, New York Magazine, Liberal Values, Macsmind and Balloon Juice

John King / CNN:

GOP sources: Romney to suspend campaign — (CNN) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will suspend his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, GOP sources tell CNN. — Romney had won 270 delegates in through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with front-runner John McCain's 680.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Hotline On Call, Burnt Orange Report, Think Progress, BizzyBlog, The Carpetbagger Report, The Strata-Sphere, Citizen Orange, PoliGazette, Middle Earth Journal, Buckeye State Blog and The Glittering Eye

Byron York / The Corner:

Romney Pulling Out? Campaign Doesn't Want “To Look Destructive At What Might Be The End.” — We are beginning to see signs that Mitt Romney might be preparing to pull out of the Republican race. — Everyone is looking for tea leaves from the campaign, and we'll know more about the governor's state …

Discussion: Redstate, TIME, Power Line, PoliBlog (TM), BobKrumm.com, Sister Toldjah and Roger Ailes

Eric Pianin / The Fix:

Romney Announces He Is Dropping Out of GOP Race — Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content. — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney announced today that he will suspend his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Comments from Left Field and Politics Plus

Mark Halperin / The Page:

Transcript of Romney's Speech Withdrawing From the Race — Governor Romney's Address to the Conservative Political Action Committee - February 7, 2008 — I want to begin by saying thank you. It's great to be with you again. And I look forward to joining with you many more times in the future.

Discussion: The New Republic, Think Progress, The Daily Dish, GINA COBB and Dick Polman's American Debate

Associated Press:

Romney suspends campaign — Fears a fight to the convention would make Democratic victory more likely — Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., and his wife Ann walk away after he dropped out of the presidential race at the American Conservative Union's 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Thursday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Where's the Outrage?, You Decide 08! and Gateway Pundit

The Caucus:

Romney Quits Presidential Race — Updated Mitt Romney is suspending his campaign for president. — “If this were only about me, I'd go on,” he said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. “I feel I now have to stand aside for our party and our country.”

Discussion: PrawfsBlawg, The Moderate Voice, All Spin Zone and About.com US Politics

Michelle Malkin:

Live from CPAC: Romney speaks..."Frankly in this time of a war, I cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror...I feel I need to stand aside" — 12:43pm Eastern. I'm starting a new thread for Romney's speech...awaiting his official announcement of the suspension of his campaign.

Discussion: The Newshoggers

New York Times:
Romney Drops Out of Presidential Race

Discussion: The Politico and The Heretik

You Decide 08!:
ROMNEY DROPS PRESIDENTIAL BID, STUNS CPAC AUDIENCE

Discussion: A Second Hand Conjecture, Stop The ACLU and News Hounds

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
CPAC: Romney To Withdraw?

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Guardian and The American Mind

Marc Ambinder:
AP has Excerpts of Romney's Drop Out Speech

Discussion: The New Republic and Outside The Beltway

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Team Romney source hints that Mitt will drop out? …

Discussion: Inside Charm City, TownHall Blog, The Corner, michellemalkin.com, The Campaign Spot and The Sundries Shack

Michael Luo / New York Times:
Losses Aside, Romney Puts Convention on Calendar

Discussion: Boston Globe, who is willard milton romney? and The Campaign Spot

Bloomberg:

Obama Advisers Foresee a Delegate Draw With Clinton — Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama's advisers are anticipating the possibility of a Democratic presidential race deadlocked past the last primary, and the outcome may hinge on a fight over whether delegations from Florida and Michigan …

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Reason Magazine

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Obama and Clinton Brace for Long Run

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, New York Post, Tom Watson, MSNBC, The Carpetbagger Report, Buckeye State Blog and BuzzMachine

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: DEADLOCKED — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro

Discussion: New York Times, Open Left and Booman Tribune

Bloomberg:
Obama Campaign Projects Deadlocked Race After Primaries Finish

Discussion: Don Surber, The Carpetbagger Report, Associated Press, Jules Crittenden, Political Machine and The New Republic

Jennifer Parker / Political Punch:

And Obama Wept — Inspiration is nice. But some folks seem to be getting out of hand. — It's as if Tom Daschle descended from on high saying, “Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Corner, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, Attytood, Taylor Marsh, Redstate, Wonkette, New York Observer, Hullabaloo and NewsBusters.org

Joe Klein / Time:
Inspiration vs. Substance

Discussion: Firedoglake

Sam Graham-Felsen / my.barackobama.com:

Message from David Plouffe: Matching the Five Million — David Plouffe just sent out this email...

Discussion: New York Post, TPM Election Central, Threat Level, MSNBC, Hold Fast, Personal Democracy Forum, culturekitchen, The RBC, MyDD, The Daily Whim, Burnt Orange Report, The Democratic Daily, D-Day, Born at the Crest …, Comments from Left Field and Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder:
Money Pours In For Clinton, Obama

Discussion: The New Republic

Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:

“EXCLUSIVE!” JOHN McCAIN CPAC SPEECH — A secret operative working for this website has gotten a hold of the speech John McCain will deliver to attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference. She says I shouldn't ask how she got it although she mentioned that she had a real …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Newshoggers, Cheat Seeking Missiles and Gateway Pundit

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

CPAC: Dick Cheney Speech Live-Blog — Dick Cheney is giving one of the first speeches here at CPAC. He got a very warm welcome from the crowd, which is SRO. The Cheney we're seeing now is the relaxed and funny speaker that we've known from many speeches here and other places.

Discussion: The Newshoggers and Atlas Shrugs

Mister Leonard Pierce / Sadly, No!:
The Beast is Red, Chapter 4: In a Mad Frenzy, Stinging Themselves to Eternal Death

Discussion: Hold Fast

BBC:

Sharia law in UK is ‘unavoidable’ — The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK “seems unavoidable”. — Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to “face up to the fact” that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Biased BBC, Tim Blair and Blue Crab Boulevard

Anne Schroeder Mullins / Anne Schroeder's Blogs:

CPAC to all CPAC-ers: Don't boo McCain — John McCain may have it easier than he expected today when he commandeers the podium at CPAC this afternoon. Conservatives from all over will predictably fill the room to the brim to listen to what the now GOP front-runner has to say, despite a hate/love relationship with the guy.

Discussion: Hot Air, Macsmind and Riehl World View

Sonia Verma / Times of London:

Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man — A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Media Blog and Hot Air

The Politico:

McCain seeks truce with right-wing critics — John McCain, whose Super Tuesday performance has given him an aura of inevitability in the eyes of many Republican leaders, has begun an aggressive campaign to quell conservative dissent and prevent an outbreak of GOP buyer's remorse.