WASHINGTON — Conservatives are dividing on whether to support the Republican Party’s front-runner, Senator McCain, after his chief rival for the presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, suspended his campaign at the Conservative Political Action Conference here.

Only two hours after Mr. Romney effectively withdrew from the race yesterday, Mr. McCain leveled with a skeptical crowd of conservative activists, many of whom had rallied against him in the past three weeks.

On immigration, Mr. McCain pledged to secure America’s borders before signing a bill that would resolve the status of illegal workers. He also highlighted his support for conservative judges and pledged to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and veto any tax increase Congress would attempt to pass into law. Missing from his speech, however, was the senator’s usual section warning of the perils of global warming.

Mr. McCain acknowledged he had differences with the conservative activists. “We have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won’t continue to have a few,” he said. “But even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives. If I am convinced my judgment is in error, I will correct it.”

Mr. McCain made his pitch at the crescendo of his speech by contrasting his plan and record with his Democratic rivals for the White House. “Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will withdraw our forces from Iraq based on an arbitrary timetable designed for the sake of political expediency and which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue,” he said.
Yesterday a former Republican House majority leader, Tom DeLay, gave Mr. McCain’s speech poor marks. “He did not address the issues on the mind of conservatives in the room. He addressed the issues that were important for him,” Mr. DeLay said. Mr. McCain launched investigations into influence-peddling by Mr. DeLay’s close ally in the 1990s, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, that led to a spate of bad press for Mr. DeLay, who resigned from the House.

Mr. DeLay said the Arizona senator “missed an opportunity.” He said he worried for the future of the party in November. “Look at the turnout on the Republican side versus the Democratic side,” he said. “Democrats are excited about their candidate. Republicans are not. McCain is going to have to reach out and convince conservatives he is one of them.”

On his nationally syndicated radio broadcast, former Reagan administration official Mark Levin played a recording of Mr. McCain saying Senator Clinton, the Democrat from New York, would make a fine president. “I would have more respect for John McCain if he went up there and said I’m not a conservative, I’m a populist,” Mr. Levin said.

A founder of the Christian Coalition and Republican strategist, Ralph Reed, said the McCain nomination places the party in “uncharted waters.” He said, “This is the first time in 32 years you have had a Republican nominee for president while losing the votes of conservatives and evangelicals in the primary. In that sense we are really in uncharted waters. There is a significant sense of estrangement from Senator McCain among a large number of grassroots conservatives in the party.”

Mr. Reed said that he would recommend Mr. McCain run a campaign similar to that of the current president’s father, George H.W. Bush, in 1988. Like Mr. McCain, the first President Bush was never considered a movement conservative. For example, Mr. McCain, Mr. Reed said, should choose a social conservative as a running mate and make his campaign focus on values.

Mr. Reed said of George H.W. Bush, “He picked Quayle who is conservative. He gave the no new taxes pledge and the overarching message of the campaign, was a conservative message about values, the Pledge of Allegiance, the flag, and taxes. All of those are conservative economic and cultural message. If John McCain emulates this model, he chooses a conservative running mate, runs on a conservative value message in the fall he can unite the party and win.”

The president of American Values, Gary Bauer, said however that he thought Mr. McCain’s speech was “a giant step forward.”

“He needs to keep making clear the differences between him and the Democrats,” Mr. Bauer said.

The editor of National Review Online, Kathryn Lopez, said Mr. McCain’s speech was “the beginning of the conversation he has to have with conservatives if he wants to forge a winning coalition of conservatives for victory in November.”

In his speech announcing his withdrawal from the campaign, Governor Romney said he was pulling out because in a time of war it was important to unite the party to defeat Democrats. “Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

Senator Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, yesterday responded on his plane to reporters, saying, “”That’s the kind of poorly thought-through statement that led him to have to drop out . . It’s a classic attempt to appeal to people’s fears,” according to the Politico.

Mr. Romney’s supporters were shocked. A 17-year-old high school student from Halifax, Va., Toni Woods, said she was “flabbergasted.” She stood in the lobby of the Omni Shoreham Hotel holding a sign that read, “Stop McCain Amnesty.” “I had no idea this was going to happen,” she said. “I felt like crying.” Standing next to her was a man with a home made sign of his own reading, “Republicans voting against McCain.”