With the bombshell news that Mitt Romney quit the race to the White House, it looks like John McCain just effectively snatched the Republican nomination.

Romney said he suspended his campaign in order to help the GOP win in November.

A year after Romney’s formal entrance in the race. He’s spent his time trying to get the support of conservatives with his “family values campaign.” But the other candidates charged him with flip-flopping and voters questioned his Mormon faith.

And just weeks ago we thought the Republicans could be divided until the conventions and that the Democrats would pick their nominee quickly. But the opposite happened.

It seems like stepping down was the reasonable thing for Romney to do. McCain was leading the delegate race by hundreds. But would conservatives rather stay home than vote for him?

Well, amnesty and McCain-Feingold aside, conservative voters would surely prefer to have McCain in the White House than Clinton or Obama. So, now John McCain has no choice but to unite the Republican Party. He has to lead the GOP and the conservative movement. And he has plenty of time to get cracking since now he’s in position for the general election while the Dems are still busy duking it out. (Which by the way means PA primary voters won’t really count on the Republican side but they might on the Democratic side!)

Sure, Mike Huckabee is still in the race after winning several states on Super Duper Tuesday. But if he’s smart and wants to maintain the possibility of being selected as McCain’s running mate, he is going to have to drop out fairly soon as well.

Romney’s demise might be great for McCain but I don't think it's exactly good news for Obama and Clinton. McCain will be a tougher opponent to beat than Romney would have been. The Democrats still have a tight race ahead, and neither Obama nor Clinton has a clear advantage yet.