Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney suspended his presidential campaign today, clearing the way for John McCain to seal the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney said fighting all the way to the party's national convention would damage Republican chances in the November election and make it more likely that a Democrat, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, would take the White House.

``In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror,'' Romney said in a speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, where he was greeted with cheers. ``I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and our country.''

McCain, 71, an Arizona senator, told the conference this afternoon he spoke with Romney and congratulated him for his ``dedicated'' campaign. The two men will ``sit down together,'' and they agree on the importance of uniting the party, he said.

Romney, 60, is yielding after losing in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as well as several later contests that he was counting on to propel him to the nomination.

The former Massachusetts governor emerged from the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday round of primaries and caucuses having been thwarted in states such as West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Battle for Support

While Romney won contests in Nevada, Wyoming and his home state of Michigan, he faced difficulties gaining support from evangelical Christians with Huckabee, 52, in the race and from Republicans concerned about national security, who are McCain's prime constituency.

Romney trailed McCain in national polls and in the race for delegates to the Republican National Convention. A candidate needs at least 1,191 to win the nomination, and an Associated Press count showed McCain had a total of 707 so far. Romney had 294 and Huckabee had 195. Representative Ron Paul, who also remains in the race, had 14.

``It was inevitable,'' Republican strategist Rick Wilson, who isn't affiliated with any campaign, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. ``If he wants to live to fight another day in a way that is viable, he needs to step aside.''

Huckabee to Continue

Huckabee said he planned to stay in the contest.

``This is a two-man race for the nomination, and I am committed to marching on,'' he said in a statement. ``As a true authentic, consistent, conservative, I have a vision to bring hope, opportunity and prosperity to all Americans, and I'd like to ask for and welcome the support of those who had previously been committed to Mitt.''

While Romney's name will remain on ballots, he is no longer seeking votes or campaigning, his spokesman Kevin Madden said in an e-mailed response to questions.

``The governor will bring his delegates to the convention'' to make sure he has a say in the party's platform ``with the expectation of releasing those delegates to the eventual nominee,'' Madden said.

In his speech to CPAC, an annual gathering of students, activists and policy makers, Romney said he disagrees with McCain ``on a number of issues.'' Their main area of agreement, he said, is continuing the U.S. military effort in Iraq and prosecuting the war on terror.

`Declare Defeat'

``And Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the war on terror,'' Romney said. ``They would retreat and declare defeat.''

Pressing on with a campaign would ``make it more likely that Senators Clinton or Obama would win,'' he said.

Romney didn't explicitly give his endorsement to McCain.

Romney based his campaign on the managerial experience he gained as a businessman, head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and Republican governor of Democratic-leaning Massachusetts.

In his campaign kickoff on Feb. 13, 2006, he said Washington can't be changed by a ``lifelong politician.''

``There have been too many deals, too many favors, too many entanglements, and too little real-world experience managing, guiding, leading,'' he said at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, the state where he was born and where his father, George Romney, served as governor in the 1960s.

Fundraising

Though never a national front-runner, Romney excelled at fundraising, collecting twice as much as McCain early in the campaign last year.

He also benefited from the fortune he built as the former chairman of Boston-based management-consulting firm Bain & Co. and founder of investment firm Bain Capital LLC, by loaning more than $35 million to his campaign.

During 2007 he spent $87.6 million on the race, more than any other Republican hopeful.

Romney's political career in Massachusetts provided targets for his opponents, such as his support of a woman's right to have an abortion during an unsuccessful 1994 bid for the Senate. He also said he would be a better advocate for homosexuals than the state's Democratic Senator, Edward Kennedy.

During the presidential campaign he said he is now firmly anti-abortion and has been an advocate for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, aligning him more with Republican conservatives.

There was also the issue of Romney's membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A July Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll found that 35 percent of registered voters said they wouldn't vote for a Mormon for president. That includes about a third of both Republicans and independents.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: February 7, 2008 17:54 EST