Breaking News: Mitt Romney to rejoin GOP race?February 25th, 2008 | 16 Comments | Posted in Analysis, Commentary, and Editorials, Josh Romney, Mitt Romney, Postmortem Analysis
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Ya gotta love The LA Times, they seem to have some of the best stuff of late on Romney…
Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney’s five sons, says it’s “possible” his father may rejoin the race for the White House, either as a vice presidential candidate or seek to become the Republican Party’s standard bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.
The 60-year-old Romney, who “suspended” his campaign for the GOP nomination after a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday and a week later endorsed McCain, was taking a break from politics this weekend on a skiing vacation in Utah with his wife Ann, according to his 32-year-old son.
The elder Romney, who was unable to assemble sufficient conservative support to thwart McCain, has made no public comment since the McCain camp was rocked….
Further into the article:
After a full year of campaigning for his father around the country, Josh Romney, who is the only Romney clan member to reside in Utah, is reported to be considering a race for the House of Representatives as a Republican representing Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, a seat currently held by Democrat Jim Matheson.
In an interview with the Deseret Morning News to be published in Monday’s editions, the younger Romney admits he is considering the House race. “I’m pretty young,” he says, “but I’ve had good experience on the campaign trail.” He campaigned for his father all year and investing the summer visiting all 99 of Iowa’s counties.
Josh Romney said he was gauging the impact of a political life on his career as a real estate developer and on his young family, his wife Jen and their three children, Gracie, who is 5, Wyatt, who’s 3, and Owen, who’s one.
He was asked about speculation that given the McCain troubles his father might re-enter the Republican race either as a candidate for the top spot or as the party nominee’s vice presidential partner and Romney replies it’s “possible.” Then, he adds, “unlikely, but possible.”
It was the first sign from the Romney camp or family that the former Massachusetts governor’s political plans for 2008 were anything but over.
Such a move could provide a possible rallying point for conservatives, who awaited a perfect conservative candidate and held back from supporting Romney all during 2007 while the campaigns of other conservatives including Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Fred Thompson collapsed.
By the time they began drifting toward Romney, McCain, whose campaign also collapsed earlier in 2007, had assembled a string of wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida and went on to win California and build a seemingly insurmountable delegate lead.
A Ticket item here Sunday noted Romney’s graceful exit from the Republican race, which was characterized by the unusual absence of a follow-up plea for donations to retire campaign debt. The Romney campaign cost $98 million, $42.3 million of it contributed by the candidate himself.
But don’t look for Josh Romney to lend his name to the McCain campaign. “It’s one thing to campaign for my dad, someone whose principles I line up with almost entirely,” he told Lisa Riley Roche. “I can’t say the same thing for Sen. McCain.”
As of early Monday morning the Romney campaign website remain shuttered, displaying only a photo of the smiling Romney couple and a thank you message extolling the greatness of America.
