Ready or not, it’s Mitt 2016! (Maybe.)
He wants it—but will he go for it?
During a meeting in New York this week, Mitt Romney told a group of key donors that he is “seriously considering” a third run at the Presidency.
According to a source at the meeting, Romney confirmed, “I’ve run twice. Yeah, I want to be president,” and indicated that if he were to jump into the race, he’d do it sooner rather than later.
From the Washington Post:
“I believe Mitt Romney is too much of a patriot to sit on the sidelines and concede the presidency to Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren when he knows that he can fix the country,” [Romney’s former national finance co-chairman Spencer] Zwick said. “He traveled the country in 2014, met with voters, met with citizens, and I think at the end of the day he believes he could actually make a difference.”
Zwick added, “He won’t make a decision to run for president based on who else is in the race. He will make a decision based on his own desire and his own abilities. He has to decide on his own.”
Romney’s move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes as former Florida governor Jeb Bush is swiftly snatching up major party donors and operatives as he prepares for an all-but-certain presidential campaign.
Reactions are…mixed? We’ll go with mixed:
Romney 2016. Romney 2020. Romney 2024. Repeat as necessary.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 9, 2015
Uphill battle for Romney: there are now even more people that will never take personal responsibility and care for their lives. #47Percent
— Ben Howe (@BenHowe) January 9, 2015
Sidenote: I'd crawl over broken glass to pull the lever for Romney over Hillary.
— RB (@RBPundit) January 9, 2015
From my perspective, this is setting up nicely for Rubio to come in and be the fresh new, inspiring face for the GOP.
— RB (@RBPundit) January 9, 2015
No, Mitt – NO! The GOP wants to win in 2016, remember? http://t.co/uBNeQAFjQL
— Michael Taube (@michaeltaube) January 10, 2015
I am Romney the White, and I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.
— Brendan Loy (@brendanloy) January 9, 2015
"Told Ya So" makes for a catchy campaign slogan.
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) January 9, 2015
Binders! Bayonets! Gaffes!
Nah, I'll just kill myself now.
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) January 9, 2015
I have to agree with what one of my friends said about the potential run: He needs to go down in history as the guy who deserved to be President.
Right now, the Republican Party (and I include Tea Partiers, “conservatarians,” and anyone else who would rather chug sour milk than vote for some iteration of a Clinton-Warren-Biden ticket) is at a crossroads. We have the technology and volunteer base to win a Presidential election; but we’re tearing ourselves apart. The danger of running a candidate like Mitt Romney has less to do with Mitt as a person, and more to do with who his ability to bring not only new voters to the Party, but a renewed commitment to reach beyond the tent and touch new communities.
In terms of messaging, a candidate is a commodity. You have to be able to sell it; and I don’t think that Republicans at large will be willing to sell Mitt Romney to undecided, independent, and weak Dem voters. He has a lot of great qualities, but he doesn’t bring anything new to the table that will motivate a lukewarm base to turn out and GOTV.
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Comments
Romney in 2016
Because Harold Stassen Was Sooooo Close!
Ya, but, but, but!
Gov. Harold holds the record, possibly excluding Stephen Douglas, as to the number of times he’s run for president of these US! Not really a good record at that!
You reminded me of another name from way back then.
– Es-ties Ke-fal-ver, couldn’t even begin to spell that correctly.
After the betrayal of the Cromnibus; convincing any conservative, and especially the ones who actually work the precincts, run campaigns, and do GOTV to bother showing up for a candidate whose record cannot be told from a Leftist, whose only ire is expressed at conservatives, and who will not run hard against a Democrat is going to be problematical. As in after being lied to so many times by what is supposed to be my own side, I will find other things to do that campaign season. And a third party on election day.
Mitt Romney: The Bob Dole for the New Millennium.
Please no.
I would vote for a manatee, if I believe he (it) will turn 180 degrees from the current nonsense.
Sure Mitt. You were right about everything.
Except how to run a campaign. (well you annihilated the other Republican candidates but then choked when you came up against Obama.)
Except your GOTV software and the people you chose to build it and run it FAILED massively and may actually have been a dirty trick.
Except that you flip flopped a lot so I’m not sure what you were right about and when.
Except that you said you didn’t want to BE President after you lost (or was it your son that said you said that) and now you say you want it again.
Which time do we believe?
And last but not least you were right about everything but you didn’t have the guts to lash back at Candy Crowley’s interference and folded like a cheap camera.
Sorry, Mitt, I’m not voting for you in any election you may show up in.
Mitt is starting to look more like a petulant child whining because he hasn’t has his turn a line leader yet.
Maybe he can get Candy Crowley to run with him as VP.
or John Gruber
No no no no no no no no no no no no
I agree with Amy’s friend (“He needs to go down in history as the guy who deserved to be President”).
However, the response to Mitt should NOT be mis-read by Jeb!! “Ann-in-Madison” has a poll asking “If I had to pick one, I’d pick…”… and, Mitt is beating Jeb by more than 7 to 1!
Nominate Romney and even more GOP voters will stay home than did in 2012. These clowns learn nothing from experience. The spectre of an Obama second term didn’t get them out to vote, but the spectre of a Clinton presidency would? Not. Getting. It.
Doubt it. The biggest question for ’16 is will the Obama coalition’s massive turnout of blacks and young people be transferable to another candidate? If it is, we are in big trouble, because we would need those who stayed home in ’12.
But frankly, those willing to see Obama reelected rather than vote for Romney are too stupid and bigoted to be desirable partners. Better we be rid of them, they have already demonstrated they are not reliable when they don’t get their way. If we need people like that to win, God help us.
Funny how you skipped over the part where the establishment GOP is simply incapable of gaining the White House with this line of thinking, ugly as it is. Losing 2012 despite Obamacare and the long list of Obama failures was one of the most piss-poor performances in American history. By all means, double down, fool.
Yeah, that’s about 1/3 of your base according to a poll by Pat Cadell. I am sure the contempt is mutual.
It’s amazing how they keep blaming the voter for their 2012 loss. Why, the GOP would win every election were it not for these dumbf**k voters.
This guy as the GOP nominee is the left’s fantasy.
If by some miracle he won the election, he’d be the John Boehner of US presidents.
Romney? Next.
Remember Zwick is one of Romney’s biggest boosters and has been consistently urging him to run again. He seems to be the source of this, so it should be taken in that context.
But one thing about Romney is he is a serious person. He’s not out on the talk shows to do a “told ya so” lap for his ego, he cares about the country and about the issues. He’s not blowing smoke.
– –
This is obviously a reaction to Jeb’s move to “explore.” Romney’s donor base is mainly independent of the party establishment, although he did attract most of them in ’12. His trump is his personal network of people he worked with and whose companies he saved and made prosperous, and a group of rick Mormons. Romney needs to make sure they don’t commit to another candidate in an effort to stop Bush.
Mitt would rather wait and see, but he can’t let an anti-Bush campaign get momentum without him.
People cry for a conservative alternative to Bush. If Jeb is lining up his donors, many of whom have been with the family for 25 years, that alternative better be able to raise money in quantity in a hurry.
I find Mitt politically appealing in a number of ways – not the least of which is that he can be counted on to end the banana republic antics of this administration. But, to build on a thought from Megan Kelly, what the United States needs right now is a Churchill, not an Eisenhower.
As a Republican since Reagan and now a new Independent voter, the gop can go to hell.
Its funny to see them spinning as a open-borders, lying, Gruber–the voter is stupid–hiring, statist makes his bid.
Mittens? Jeb? really, GOPe?
thanks for proving my contention that you have no interest in leading, only in keeping your personal access to power & money… which is why i just changed my voter registration to Independent, having been a Republican since i first registered long ago. stunts like this, and shoving #CashAndCarry down our throats here in #Failifornia were the last straw.
Clinton-Bush 2016*
Because, at this point, what difference does it make which party is in power?
*(or Warren-Romney, for that matter)