Former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney announced Thursday that he is backing Sen. John McCain in his bid for the Oval Office.

“I am honored to give my full support to Sen. McCain’s candidacy for the presidency of the United States,” Mitt Romney said, McCain by his side.

Introducing him as a true American hero, Romney said he had no doubt McCain should be the next president of the United States.

Romney’s move frees up all 280 delegates he won across the U.S., giving McCain 1,113 total delegates, just 78 short of securing the nomination.

Last week, Mitt suspended his campaign, saying it was in his party’s best interest not to “forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. [Hillary] Clinton or [Barack] Obama to win.”

So how did an endorsement of a man Mitt Romney railed against for months come to pass? And what was the true motivation behind it?

Unlike Clinton and Obama, who Democrats almost universally like, Romney and McCain trigger real animosity among supporters - and each other.

According to CNN, negotiations that led to Romney’s endorsement included a prominent role by John Weaver, who served as John McCain’s top political strategist until he was forced out last summer.

According to several sources familiar with the talks, Weaver got involved with the blessing of top McCain advisers Charlie Black and Steve Schmidt.

Both were aware of John Weaver’s friendship and past relationship with Romney campaign manager Beth Myers. Weaver and Myers worked on a Texas campaign and in the Texas Republican party back in the 1980.

Weaver made contact with Myers last week to initiate talks aimed at winning Mitt Romney’s endorsement and an urging from him that his delegates needed to rally behind the candidacy of John McCain.

A source involved in the Romney deliberations confirmed Weaver’s role and said Mitt concluded it was time to unite behind McCain.

So will this help appease the Republican establishment at odds with McCain? Don’t count a huge boost. Clearly, Mitt Romney wasn’t able to sway voters while running, his support diminished by the pesky Mike Huckabee.

Of course, once John McCain has a Democratic candidate to officially run against, the GOP base may view him a bit more favorably.

After W is of the opinion that a McCain-Obama race would be harder for the Arizona senator to win, but regardless of who his opponent is, we’re guessing the GOP turnout will be higher than many pundits anticipate.