Local GOP leaders will likely back Mac now that Romney’s out

With Mitt Romney stepping aside in an implicit endorsement of John McCain this morning, local supporters were quick to follow suit, acknowledging the common threat of a Democratic White House while heeding the former governor’s call for party unity in the 2008 elections.

“It was the right time, and he (dropped out) in an elegant and graceful manner that will help unite Republicans,” Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh said. “I believe that Mitt Romney was the best man for the job, but nevertheless, each of our Republican candidates are better than what the Democrats have to offer, which is higher taxes and retreat with respect to the war in Iraq.”

Baugh, who campaigned for Romney, also downplayed a growing hostility between the conservative wing of the party and McCain, who has been criticized by some as too liberal and eager to compromise with Democrats on important conservative issues.

“I think the divide is isolated merely to the sport of primary politics,” he said. “The GOP will unite in the fall to defeat the Democrats.”

Rep. John Campbell, who had endorsed Romney, said he wasn’t so sure.

“Those divisions are wide, deep, and long,” he said. “I think it’s way too early at this point to say what will happen with that I’m not sure how important McCain’s campaign thinks it is to mend fences with conservatives.”

“I think that he did the right thing under the circumstances — once he lost California, he could not mathematically get the nomination from delegates,” he continued. “The best he could hope for was keeping McCain from getting it and going into a brokered convention, but he wasn’t going to win a brokered convention.”

In the end, Campbell said, he agreed with Baugh that the greater threat was a Democratic White House — though he declined to endorse another Republican candidate.

“I will just stay out; I won’t endorse either one,” he said. “I presume McCain will be the nominee at this point. If Mike Huckabee stays in the race, he’ll win a few states, but I don’t think he can prevent McCain gaining the nomination.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who had given Romney a surfboard during a local rally last month, said he was disappointed that Romney had “wiped out,” but would nevertheless support the Republican nominee.

“I think, whoever the Republican nominee is, the conservative wing of the party will vote for them,” he said. “The question is: How much energy will be put out ? In order to ensure that the party is activated, he needs to select a running mate who is conservative, and is acceptable to the conservative activists in the party.”

Rohrabacher declined to explicitly endorse another candidate, though acknowledged McCain would almost certainly win the nomination.

Campbell, along with other congressional supporters of the former governor, will meet with Romney at a Capitol Hill meeting at noon. Rohrabacher will not join that meeting.

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.