There had been indications for months that Mitt Romney was thinking about running for president in 2016. Nevertheless, the political world was taken aback when Romney himself finally said it, last Friday at a meeting with donors in New York. He was no longer coy about things, no longer keeping a secret. “Tell your friends,” Romney told the assembled millionaire supporters, according to an account in Politico.

The Wall Street Journal was first to reveal Romney’s message to the donors. After that, political reporters from various outlets jumped in to confirm and add detail. The stories featured lots of Romney loyalists, contributors, and aides from 2012 and 2008, many of whom remain close to the former one-term Massachusetts governor. Television news picked up the story and added a gloss of its own, and in almost no time, Romney 2016 was officially a thing.