Mitt Romney closed the door on a third presidential bid Friday, telling supporters during a morning conference call that he plans to sit out the 2016 contest.
The Republicans’ 2012 presidential nominee scrambled the budding GOP primary campaign in early January when he signaled to campaign contributors and backers of his past campaigns that he was considering another run at the White House. Romney asked them to hold off from joining other campaigns while he took time to make a decision. For the most part, they complied.
Romney’s decision to bow out could set off a flurry of moves by operatives and donors to jump on board with other potential GOP candidates, chief among them former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Romney supporters and alumni of his 2012 campaign predicted that Bush would in fact scoop up many of the big Republican donors, bundlers and political operatives who were ready to join Mitt 3.0 had the former Massachusetts governor made the race. Bush World was certainly pleased with Romney’s decision, signaling that they believe it makes the Floridian the prohibitive frontrunner against likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“This invisible primary is over. This is Hillary’s horrible, no good, very bad day,” a Bush supporter told the Washington Examiner.
In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Bush complimented Romney on his service to the country.
“Mitt Romney has been a leader in our party for many years. There are few people who have worked harder to elect Republicans across the country than he has. Though I’m sure today’s decision was not easy, I know that Mitt Romney will never stop advocating for renewing America’s promise,” he said. “Columba and I wish Mitt, Ann and their entire family the very best.”
Romney didn’t mention Bush or any of the other potential 2016 candidates in the lengthy statement he read, verbatim, during the conference call.
But the Republican Party’s most recent presidential nominee leveled what sounded like a subtle broadside at Bush that many political observers are interpreting Romney’s belief that the next nominee and best GOP candidate to take on Clinton is someone other than the former two-term Florida governor.
“I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee,” Romney said. In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.”
Bush might be the most electable; he might be the most capable to serve as president. But “unknown” and “next generation” Bush is not. The 61 year-old Bush won re-election as Florida governor in 2002 and exited office in 2006. His brother George W. Bush and father George H.W. Bush are the two most recent Republicans to inhabit the White House; his network of supporters is deep and experienced, going back three decades.
The rivalry dates to 2012 when many Romney supporters believed Jeb Bush waited gratuitously long to endorse the eventual nominee, furthering his struggles in what turned out to be a long and bloody GOP primary. Romney signaled to supporters that he was considering a 2016 bid within weeks of Bush making moves toward a run, action interpreted as specifically intended to blunt Bush’s inevitability.
Bush and Romney remained friendly throughout Romney’s three-week flirtation with a third presidential run. Bush supporters weren’t amused, however. A Republican operative backing the Floridian told the Washington Examiner just minutes before Romney bowed out that the 2012 nominee’s remarks about the “47 percent” of Americans on some form of government assistance would haunt him in 2016.
“Was just rereading the Romney quote. It really is extraordinary and I just don’t see how he ever makes it go away.”
Romney kept everyone guessing until minutes before the conference call kicked off, when talk show host and Washington Examiner columnist Hugh Hewitt posted Romney’s exit statement on his website. Romney confirmed on the call that his top advisors had spent the last weeks sketching out how a third presidential bid would look operationally and who would be in charge.
Just this week, Romney delivered a campaign-style speech to a packed auditorium on the campus of Mississippi State University. There, as in a series of recent comments and leaks from Romney loyalists, the former one-term governor of the Bay State revealed an overhauled political message that focused on income inequality, his Mormon faith, and national security.
Romney didn’t much discuss these issues or themes in 2012, and that has been described as a part of general failure to communicate a message that resonated with a broad cross section of voters. Romney’s focus on entrepreneurship to the exclusion of working class Americans, and refusal to open up about his religious faith and how it has impacted his approach to public service, not to mention charges of being a flip-flopper who lacked authenticity, were blamed partly for Romney’s loss to President Obama.
Despite Romney sending signals that he would campaign differently in 2016, some alumni of the 2012 campaign who were privy to internal discussions said it did not appear that much had changed. They still believed Romney would make a great president, and were prepared to support him, but weren’t sure that the fatal flaws from the 2012 race had been adequately addressed.
Some Romney loyalists suggested that this view of the 2012 nominee was widespread. One veteran Romney backer said flatly that the former Massachusetts governor bowed out of a third bid because the support simply wasn’t there — financial or otherwise — for him to mount a competitive bid in a primary field that unlike last time around appears to be deep with talent.
“He knew it would be a blood bath,” said one loyalist prepared to support Romney again. “He might have been able to pull it off but to what extent? Now he can focus on being the Republican elder statesman. “
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