State's GOP Committee Members Back McCain

by The Associated Press

Thursday February 07, 2008, 3:00 PM

MATT YORK, The Associated Press
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Both Pennsylvania members of the Republican National Committee are endorsing John McCain for president.

The endorsements by Bob Asher and Christine Olson had been in the works for at least a day but were delayed by administrative glitches. Their letter to fellow members of the GOP state committee, urging them publicly to support the Arizona senator when the committee meets Saturday in Harrisburg, was released by the McCain campaign shortly after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney quit the race.

Meanwhile, McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination today when chief rival Romney suspended his faltering campaign. "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives.

"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 told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Romney's decision leaves McCain as the top man in the GOP race, with Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul far behind in the delegate hunt.

Asher, a Montgomery County businessman who previously supported former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Olson, an Indiana County resident who had not stated a preference, said McCain has "the conservative credentials, the character and the leadership ability" to get elected in November.

"Senator McCain is the candidate who can bring together our party as well as reach out to independent and moderate voters, a must for any statewide candidate here in Pennsylvania to win the general election," they said in the letter.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, a national co-chairman of McCain's campaign, is expected to attend the state committee meeting and urge a McCain endorsement. (Ridge has been mentioned as a vice-presidential hopeful, if PA comes through big for McCain. ed.)

Asher and Olson urged their fellow Republican State Committee members to endorse McCain when the committee meets Saturday in Harrisburg. In a letter, they said he has the conservative credentials and leadership ability to beat the Democrats in November.