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While the Dorado Beach strategy did not take the mainland by storm, it was a viable working plan as long as Romney remained afloat. But premature and excessive exposure, clumsy articulation of ideas and downright ineptness, especially the "brainwashing" blooper, dissipated his early popularity. After his withdrawal, Romney volunteered that he had entered the competition before fully developing his positions.
Futile Flapping. While Romney's prospects deteriorated, Nixon's expanded. Rockefeller reacted by inching away gradually from pledges not to run. He expected Romney to stick it out through the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday, and Wisconsin's on April 2. The miscalculation was enormous. Romney was heading not merely for defeat in New Hampshire but for annihilation. His staff was making thousands of phone calls and sending out thousands of letters to assemble audiences of 200. The "home headquarters" approach that seemed so folksy at first turned into a trap for the candidate, consuming his time and energy with little return. Starting out far behind Nixon in the early polls, Romney relied heavily on handshaking and crowd pleasing to recoup. Said his state campaign manager, William Johnson: "We flapped our wings and stood on our heads. Nothing helped."
By the beginning of last week, the Michigander's own opinion sampling and other polls showed Romney trailing by 6 and 7 to 1 (see box overleaf). The aroma of failure would make delegate-foraging in non-primary states difficult. Romney's campaign had already cost $1,000,000 by the estimate of National Campaign Manager Leonard Hall, and would have required $2,000,000 more by the August convention; yet contributions were becoming scarce. Johnson, Hall and other Romney advisers decided that withdrawal was the only feasible course; no recovery seemed possible in Wisconsin, Nebraska or Oregon. They relayed their prognosis to the candidate in a late-night meeting at Boston's Ramada Inn. Romney slept on it, and by the time he finished breakfast next morning his mind was made up to quit.
Twin Double Cross? Word of the decision trickled out by early afternoon as the National Governors' Conference was gathering in Washington. Romney made it official by reading a 387-word statement to reporters when he arrived in the capital. Perhaps because of the relief he felt after a long ordeal, he performed more gracefully than he had on most occasions during his 102 days of declared candidacy and during the earlier buildup. He candidly admitted failure to attract the support he needed, blamed no one for his troubles. He timed his announcement when he did, he said, because the Republican Governors were not scheduled to meet again until June and "it is desirable that they be able to act now or make plans to do so" on the question of a candidate. He singled out Rockefeller for special praise ("He has asked nothing of me and has given more than I have asked") but withheld an endorsement.