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Despite calls to exit the GOP race to pave the way for John McCain to become the Republican Party's nominee for president, Mike Huckabee told conservative activists today that he would continue with his presidential bid.

Huckabee rejected claims that he has little chance of becoming the GOP's candidate because of McCain's significant lead in delegates. McCain leads Huckabee in delegates 709 to 163, by CBS News' count, with 1,191 needed for the nomination.

"I didn't major in math," Huckabee said the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting, according to the Associated Press. ``I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them.''

``There are only a few states that have voted - 27 have not,'' added Huckabee, who CBS News projects will win today's Republican caucuses in Kansas. ``People in those 27 states deserve more than a coronation, they deserve an election.''

The former Arkansas governor later vowed not to drop out until McCain has the necessary 1,191 delegates – and maybe not even then.

``I won't drop out until at least that happens, then we'll see,'' he said.

Did Conservative Talk Show Host Laura Ingraham know Mitt Romney was about to suspend his campaign when she was introducing him at CPAC today?

You might not know by the way she was knocking John McCain, now the clear GOP frontrunner.

So much for getting out of the way of McCain's national campaign - Romney's stated reason for stepping aside.

In her intro, Ingraham took several not-so-subtle shots at McCain's conservative creds, an issue some right-leaning celebrities like Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh have been hammering at in recent weeks.

Check out the video below:

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This morning, the Democratic National Committee sent out an email targeting "Panderer in Chief" John McCain. The email offers a preview of some of the attacks we can expect to see in the general election should the GOP frontrunner become his party's nominee.

In the email, the DNC suggests that McCain "has cast aside his principles by flip-flopping on signature issues like campaign finance and immigration reform, and embracing the very same 'agents of intolerance' and shady campaign tactics he once denounced."

It also criticizes the Arizona senator for giving a speech today at the Conservative Political Action Committee, a yearly conference hosted by the American Conservative Union. (He will be speaking at 3:00 pm.) ACU chairman Davis Keene is one of McCain's many critics on the right.

"Desperate to lock up the right wing of his party," the email says, "McCain is heading to the annual Conservative Political Action Committee he skipped last year to give a speech sandwiched between Vice President Dick Cheney today and President Bush tomorrow."

More from the email:

Campaign McCain's "extreme makeover" may help him pander to the right wing, but the rest of America has figured out that a vote for John McCain is a vote for a third Bush term. Whether he is pining for a 100 year war in Iraq, calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, supporting efforts to make the same Bush tax cuts he once opposed permanent, supporting President Bush's veto of health care for 10 million children, or applauding the President's decision to commute Scooter Libby's sentence, John McCain has promised four more years of the same failed Bush policies that have undermined our economy and made America less secure.

"The more people watch John McCain desperately cast aside his principles to pander to the right wing of his Party, the less they will trust him to provide the change America's working families want," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "The last thing our country needs is four more years of disastrous Republican leadership on everything from Iraq to the economy to health care, but McCain doesn't have anything else to offer."

Conservatives have plenty of policy differences with John McCain on issues like immigration, education and campaign finance reform. But underlying many of the complaints is a more visceral, personal animosity that is driven by the perception that the Arizona senator has a penchant for sticking his finger in the eye of those who disagree with him.

That dynamic was illustrated last year when McCain was the only major Republican presidential candidate not to attend the annual CPAC convention in Washington, DC. "It just didn't fit in with our schedule," McCain said at the time. It was another snub of a key block of the party and a reminder of the uncomfortable relationship between them.

The candidate who labeled some social conservative leaders as "agents of intolerance" in 2001 is now on the verge of winning the party's nomination and will try to repair the breach he has helped create with a speech at CPAC today. What McCain offers conservatives and how activists receive him will be closely watched to determine just how far the two sides have to come if they are to unify for the general election.

It would be an easier task if McCain were entering the speech with the nomination wrapped up, but Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee show no signs of giving up the firth despite the long odds they face. McCain is well over half way to locking up enough delegates to claim the nomination. According to CBS estimates, McCain has 699 delegates right now, compared to 162 for Huckabee and 157 for Romney (not all the Super Tuesday delegates have been estimated yet). With just over 1,300 delegates left on the table, the math isn't difficult. Romney or Huckabee would have to win huge majorities in mostly proportional contests to reach the 1,191 delegates needed for the nomination.

Romney will speak before McCain and will help set the tone. In the days leading up to Super Tuesday, Romney blistered McCain's conservative credentials, even calling the Arizona Senator a legislator with "liberal" ideas. If Romney keeps up the mantra today, he may well get a roar of approval. But with slim hopes of winning the nomination, does Romney want to play that role any longer?

The one name that we're certain to hear often today is Ronald Reagan, who launched the conservative movement at this same conference over two decades ago. His is the mantle GOP candidates have wrestled over during this campaign. Can McCain revive some of that Reagan magic today?

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