Politicos aligning for GOP

With presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stepping aside in an implicit endorsement of John McCain Thursday morning, local supporters were quick to follow the former Massachusetts governor’s call for unity.

“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 party’s conservative wing and McCain, who has been criticized as too liberal and eager to compromise with Democrats on important conservative issues. Many are particularly miffed by the senator’s work with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) on an immigration compromise last year.

McCain has asked his detractors to “calm down a little bit” in the interest of party unity.

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

Rep. John Campbell, who 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. 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 gave Romney a surfboard during a local rally last month, said he was disappointed that Romney had “wiped out,” but added he would still support the Republican nominee.

While declining to endorse another candidate, Rohrabacher said McCain would almost certainly win the nod. “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? 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.”

Assemblyman Van Tran, an organizer with the McCain campaign, said that he saw party unity developing behind the Arizona senator.

“What I’m seeing already is the beginning of the backing of the presumptive nominee — those who formally endorsed other candidates are now joining the McCain campaign,” he said.

“Today already we’ve gotten a number of calls from my colleagues, as well as other prominent Republicans, wanting to help unify the party and realizing full well that the November election will be a tough one,” he said.

Campbell, along with other congressional supporters of the former governor, met with Romney on Capitol Hill following his remarks. Rohrabacher was not in attendance.

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