Former Massachusetts Governor, Republican Mitt Romney will suspend his campaign, effectively ending his run for president.

“I must now stand aside, for our party and our country,” Romney said during a speech in Washington Thursday.

The move means Senator John McCain has all but won the nomination.

Romney suffered a string of embarrassing third place defeats in the South, where he was banking on conservative votes on Super Tuesday. Instead, it was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who won nearly all the southern races. Huckabee still trails Romney in the delegate counts, but McCain has a commanding lead over both.

“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,” Romney said. “If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America.”

McCain leads with 707 delegates, to 294 for Romney and 195 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn in the summer.

“I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating al-Qaida and terror,” Romney said.

Romney has been attacked from the start for flip-flopping on a number of key conservative issues.

Going into Super Tuesday, the closest thing we have to a national primary, Romney labeled McCain as a liberal and claimed he was the clear conservative choice in the Republican Party. He was aided by conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh, who said he would vote for Hillary Clinton if McCain was the Republican nominee.

The world waits with baited breath to see if he follows through. But a serious question remains as to whether or not McCain can rally the whole party to his cause.

Video courtesy/The Boston Globe

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain, in a tight race, has won the all-or-nothing Republican primary in Florida.

Over the past few weeks, since his victories in both South Carolina and in New Hampshire, McCain has begun to emerge as something of a steamroller. Depending on how he fares on February 5, in what is as close to a national primary as possible, he could likely secure the nomination in a few weeks.

McCain won all 57 of Florida’s delegates after winning 35 percent of the vote. In Florida, McCain received the endorsements of wildly popular Republican Governor Charlie Crist, and Republican Senator Mel Martinez.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney came in second place with 31% of the vote. Romney, despite his second place finishes (with wins in Michigan, Nevada and Wyoming), has enough money to ensure that this campaign carries on and will not likely concede the nomination anytime before the last primary in June.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani finished a disappointing third after throwing all of his resources of the past month into the Florida primary.

Sources say Giuliani will drop out of the race tomorrow at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California and endorse McCain. Despite tensions among the other candidates, the two have always been respectful of one another.

Only Senator Hillary Clinton campaigned in the delegateless Florida primary. She claimed victory at a rally on Tuesday night. The Democratic party stripped Florida of its delegates for holding an early primary.

The nation now turns to February 5, where over 20 states will hold their primaries.

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This was Blast’s live coverage, updated throughout the night of the Iowa caucuses.

In the Iowa Democratic caucus, Barack Obama has won over former senator and vice presidential nominee John Edwards and Senator Hillary Clinton. Clinton is likely to finish in third place in a 37, 30, 30 close race.

In the rural , 95 percent white state, Obama has made a broad statement going forward.

The Associated Press has called the Democratic poll for near 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

This is terrible news for John Edwards, who many feel needed a win in Iowa to maintain his strength in the Democratic race. He has little funding left, and won’t get much of a bonus after barely sneaking away with second place.

Blast Magazine has learned that Senator Chris Dodd (Conn.) will drop out of the race. Senator Joe Biden also announced near 11:30 p.m. Thursday that he would leave the race.

On the right side of the aisle, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has won the Republican straw poll.

NBC and CNN called the race shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday.

Huckabee beat out former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by nearly 10 percentage points.

Fred Thompson finished third while John McCain was down in fourth.

Rudy Giuliani is not campaigning in Iowa.

Huckabee was outspent 15:1 in Iowa. “People are more important than the purse,” he said during his victory speech.

“Tonight the people of Iowa made a choice, and their choice was clear; their choice was for a change,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee will certainly find financial support in the coming days leading up to New Hampshire — whether his momentum will propel him remains to be seen.

Blast Magazine staff writers Heidi Buchanan and John Guilfoil contributed to this report.