Romney sunset?

I don't know how Mitt Romney and his staff can spin this story in their favor.

From AP:

Republican Mitt Romney is conceding the bulk of the Northeast to rival John McCain, counting instead on his home state of Massachusetts, a split in California and wins in a series of caucus states to extend his presidential campaign beyond Super Tuesday.

Missing from Romney's latest campaign schedule were winner-take-all states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which account for 180 of the 1,023 delegates at stake. The omissions were telling with voting in 21 GOP contests on Tuesday.

The former Massachusetts governor was in Colorado Friday and planned to attend the funeral of Mormon church President Gordon B. Hinckley on Saturday in Utah. Romney also scheduled campaign events in Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia and West Virginia before arriving home Tuesday.

More..

If he fails to capture enough delegates to offset McCain's likely wins in other states and strong showing in California, where the Arizona senator has the backing of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Romney could end his campaign in Boston on Wednesday.

I can't see Romney winning Illinois, even before his revival, McCain had strong support here among state legislators and county chairmen. Two former Illinois governors, and ex-Giuliani supporters, Jim Edgar and the increasingly irrelevant Jim Thompson, have endorsed McCain, momentum is on the Arizona's senator side nationally and in Illinois.

However, another former governor, George Ryan, was unavailable for comment.

UPDATE February 2: McCain, as well as Obama on the Democratic side, have big leads in the latest Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll of Illinois voters.

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