His chief rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, congratulated Mr. Romney on his efforts and reached out to conservative voters who had thrown their support to the former governor and whose support, Mr. McCain said, was “indispensable to the success of our party.”

Mr. Romney, who had vowed to press on despite disappointing results in the Super Tuesday primary contests, announced his decision to drop out at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

In a speech that touched on the messages of his campaign, Mr. Romney said he had come to his decision to help unify the Republican Party, and he charged that Democratic candidates, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, would not pursue the war in Iraq.

“Because I love America, in this time of war, I feel I have to stand aside for our party and our country,” he said.

Mr. Romney had hoped to use Tuesday’s results to narrow Mr. McCain’s lead. Instead, he saw Mr. McCain widen the lead at the same time that Mr. Romney’s campaign lost ground to Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who racked up solid gains.

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