Changes

Religion was a negative factor for evangelicals who saw Mormonism an un-Christian cult. Romney, a former bishop, spoke in Texas on the need for religious tolerance. While his religion generally hurt his vote totals, it was a boon for him in Nevada, where one-fourth of the GOP caucus electorate was Mormon, and Romney won better than 90% of them against [[Ron Paul]]. Likewise it helped him sweep the Utah primary.  Romney outspent the field on TV ads in South Carolina and Florida. When he discovered he was doing poorly he pulled his advertising out of South Carolina and concentrated on Nevada, where the main contenders did not appear. Romney came in fourth place in South Carolina.  His decisive defeat came in the South. He lost to McCain in Florida, 36% to 31%, ceding the momentum to McCain.  Then Huckabee and McCain contested the remaining southern primaries, leaving Romney a poor third in the nation's conservative stronghold.<ref> Adam Nagourney, "McCain’s Victory in a Party-Only Primary Raises the Hurdles for Romney," [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/politics/30assess.html?ref=politics ''New York Times'' Jan. 30, 2008]</ref>

Religion was a negative factor for evangelicals who saw Mormonism an un-Christian cult. Romney, a former bishop, spoke in Texas on the need for religious tolerance. While his religion generally hurt his vote totals, it was a boon for him in Nevada, where one-fourth of the GOP caucus electorate was Mormon, and Romney won better than 90% of them against [[Ron Paul]]. Likewise it helped him sweep the Utah primary.  Romney outspent the field on TV ads in South Carolina and Florida. When he discovered he was doing poorly he pulled his advertising out of South Carolina and concentrated on Nevada, where the main contenders did not appear. Romney came in fourth place in South Carolina.  His decisive defeat came in the South. He lost to McCain in Florida, 36% to 31%, ceding the momentum to McCain.  Then Huckabee and McCain contested the remaining southern primaries, leaving Romney a poor third in the nation's conservative stronghold.<ref> Adam Nagourney, "McCain’s Victory in a Party-Only Primary Raises the Hurdles for Romney," [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/politics/30assess.html?ref=politics ''New York Times'' Jan. 30, 2008]</ref>

After a disappointing performance on Super Tuesday, Romney suspended his campaign on February 7; he later endorsed McCain and campaigned for McCain and [[Sarah Palin]].

On Tsunami Tuesday Romney did well in caucus states, where his high-spending organizational efforts paid off amidst very low turnout. However, he did poorly in the primary states, notably California, where his $10 million advertising blitz was pushed aside by McCain, who ran only a few radio ads. The main base of the GOP is the South, but Romney ran a weak third in the region, as Huckabee captured the evangelical vote. The Romney campaign underwent repeated transformations, with new themes and new campaign slogans, new ads and new message strategies designed to reach the conservatives who listen to talk radio. One after another Romney sought an identity as the candidate of true fiscal, social and national security conservatism. He has portrayed himself as Mr Efficiency--as the corporate executive candidate who understands the economy "in my DNA."  He then attacked illegal immigrants, an issue that had little traction.<ref>In California Romney did much worse than polls predicted [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ca/california_republican_primary-258.html (the polls had him tied with McCain but he lost by 8 points]). In the closing days he banked heavily on the anti-immigrant argument with intense TV commercials. Romney did well among the 28% who saw illegal immigration as the top issue, beating McCain by 50%-26%. However he lost heavily among the 60% who were more tolerant of immigrants [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21228167 (McCain won them by 50%-28%]). Asians and Latinos comprised 19% of the GOP vote in California; most are immigrants or children of immigrants and they voted for McCain over Romney by 48%-21%. </ref>  His last transformation came in February, with his claims to be the candidate of change, who will defeat the Washington insiders and elites, whom he links to McCain. On Tsunami Tuesday, ''Time'' magazine reports, his rhetoric took on a previously unseen, almost Trotskyite tenor: "It's time for the politicians to leave Washington and for we, the people, to take over!"<ref> Michael Scherer, "Romney's Big Push Nets Little," [http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1710284,00.html ''Time'' Feb. 06, 2008]</ref>

 

==Fundraising==

==Fundraising==