Mitt Romney has suspended his campaign for the Republican nominee for US president.
The former governor of Massachusetts had hoped to be the first Mormon to win the White House and had invested millions dollars of his own money in race.
Mr Romney announced the end of his run at a scheduled speech to a conservative convention this evening.
'I feel I have to now stand aside, for our party and for our country,' he said.
No, no,' shouted some of the participants at the conference, many of whom are disenchanted at the idea of having John McCain as the party's choice.
His departure is a big boost to the candidacy of Senator John McCain, considered the front-runner after the Super Tuesday presidential primaries.
A Republican Party source said 'Romney's run a good campaign and he can live to fight another day....he has a huge future in the party nationally.'
Mr Romney won nine of 21 states on Super Tuesday. He had vowed to fight on but he and his campaign advisers discussed the situation yesterday.
Mr Romney told the conference, 'I'm convinced that unless America changes course, we can become the France of the 21st century. Still a great nation but not the leader of the world.'
The jibe was not the first against France by Mr Romney, who spent two years living there as a Mormon missionary in the 1960s.
