Romney, who once hoped to be accepting the GOP presidential nomination this week, will laud his former rival in prime-time remarks.
"We need change all right - change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington," Romney will say, according to excerpts released today. "We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington - throw out the big-government liberals and elect John McCain."
Romney - who told CNN in January that McCain couldn't change Washington because he was a "creature of Washington" and an advocate for "liberal causes" - will lambaste Democrats, saying they want to grow government and raise taxes, put more people on Medicaid and "grow the ranks of those who pay no taxes."
"It's time to stop the spread of government dependency, to fight it like the poison it is," Romney will say, according to the excerpts. "It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother."
Romney has become one of McCain's biggest supporters since suspending his presidential campaign in February. The former Massachusetts governor and head of Utah's 2002 Winter Olympics fought a bitter contest with McCain in New Hampshire.
Romney dropped into the state after his loss in Iowa and played on the theme of a broken Washington in attacking McCain, who has served in Congress since 1983. McCain won that state and later the nomination and has adopted some of Romney's talking points.
Romney will revive some of his own in his speech tonight.
"Just like you, there has never been a day when I was not proud to be an American," Romney will say. "We inherited the greatest nation in the history of the earth. It is our burden and privilege to preserve it, to renew its spirit so that its noble past is prologue to its glorious future."
