Conservatives dismayed Mitt Romney quit race

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney's exit from the White House race left dismayed conservatives vowing to sit out the election -- or else hold their noses to vote for John McCain, their party's likely nominee.

"I'm really depressed today because this is the first time that I find myself in a position that I will not work for the nominee (McCain)," said a caller to host Rush Limbaugh's conservative talk-radio show on the verge of tears.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, suspended his campaign on Thursday, shocking supporters and all but handing the nomination to McCain, a man some view as too liberal on immigration reform, taxes and free speech.

Romney lost 14 of 21 states on Tuesday, the biggest day of nominating contests before the November 4 election.

Declining to identify herself, the caller said she might even vote for Sen. Barack Obama, vying with Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in the campaign to choose a successor to U.S. President George W. Bush.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is the only other Republican hopeful to have won primary states.

But many conservative Republicans had fixed on Romney as their best choice in a field they saw as too liberal or moderate, even if they did have reservations about his perceived changes from more liberal positions of late.

REAGAN AN ICON