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Mitt Romney’s big donors and his misfit band of 2012 advisers (who managed to make one of the most competent and generous men to run for the presidency look like a bumbling Scrooge) are trying, obviously and frantically, to keep their own hopes alive for another Romney run. They might want to rethink what they are doing. Here are 10 tips for the “Romney in 2016 crowd: 1. Using talking points like “Ronald Reagan ran three times” treats Republicans like dolts. Fellas, Reagan lost in 1976, then won in 1980 and 1984. Romney might, however, move in on Harold Stassen’s...

Mitt Romney has stopped Jeb Bush from locking down a significant faction of deep-pocketed Republican donors and top presidential campaign staffers, for the moment. But money and talent won’t stay frozen for long. And multiple Republican insiders said Monday that Romney has a short window of time in which he has to make a decision about whether to mount a third run for the White House — or let the dream of the presidency go forever. One 2012 Romney aide said the former Massachusetts governor might need to make up his mind in the next week. Most people who spoke...

Shortly after Election Day in 2012, a Mitt Romney supporter moaned to POLITICO about the failed GOP nominee’s performance: “We had no message, and we gave it to the worst communicator in the world.” Two years later, Romney is mulling over another campaign for the White House, and this time, he says, things will be different. In meetings with and individual calls to donors, supporters and former staffers, Romney is making it clear that he is likely to run, putting his time frame for a decision at “weeks, not months.” Romney, who made a fortune in the financial sector and...

Last month, Ed Morrissey submitted the astute observation that the Republican Party is nearing a crossroads. The starkest contrasts on the 2016 debate stage are unlikely to be those highlighted by the dispute over the prudence of a policy of isolationism or interventionism abroad. Nor will it be exposed by the fight between Republicans who back proposals aimed at strengthening border security before engaging in immigration reform against those who would pursue a combined strategy. The most defined distinctions, he contends, will be drawn by the Republicans of the Bush era and those who rose to prominence under Obama. “It’s...

Dear Mitt, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye. And I've been tough on you in the past but you need to hear this from someone...drop the idea of running again. It must stick in your craw that you lost to an idiot like Barack Obama. But that's the problem, you...lost...to….an…idiot…like...Barack...Obama. Yes, defeating an incumbent President is hard but it's a lot easier in times of economic distress (see Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, granted he invented his own time of distress but "it's the economy stupid" carried the day). Even with crushing levels of unemployment, anemic growth...

Mitt Romney is moving quickly to reassemble his national political network, spending the weekend and Monday calling former aides, donors and other supporters — as well as onetime foes such as Newt Gingrich. Romney’s message was that he is serious about making a 2016 presidential bid. He told one senior Republican he “almost certainly will” run in what would be his third campaign for the White House, this person said. His aggressive outreach over the past three days indicates that Romney’s declaration of interest to a group of donors in New York Friday was more than the release of a...

Mitt Romney has formally expressed interest in trying his luck for a third time, just weeks after former Florida governor Jeb Bush announced the launch of an exploratory committee to run for president in 2016, The Wall Street Journal first reported Saturday. “I want to be president,” Romney reportedly told about 30 donors in New York. Everybody in here can go tell your friends that I’m considering a run.” Romney on Friday also e-mailed his donors with invitations to his fourth annual policy summit in Park City, scheduled for June 11-13. Just a year ago, in an interview with The...

Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney have much in common. Both were pragmatic as governors, mild-mannered as candidates and more comfortable balancing budgets at their desks than clinking glasses at a political dinner. The two Republican leaders’ personal rapport is cordial. But they are hardly chummy — and at moments their relationship has been strained, with each man’s intertwined political network carrying some grievances with the other’s. As Bush, 61, and Romney, 67, explore presidential campaigns in 2016, they are like boxers warming up for what could become a brutal bout, sizing each other up and mulling whether or when to...

Jeb Bush’s moves to attract supporters and donors this week put the 2016 race for the White House into sharper focus earlier in the new year than other presidential hopefuls probably anticipated. One apparent result: Mitt Romney, the Republican standard-bearer in 2012, told a group of donors Friday that he is “seriously considering” a third try for the White House after all. Romney continues to lead in polls that include him in the GOP field. With casual but succinct Instagram videos shot on a New York street and posted Tuesday on his Facebook page — one in English, one in...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2015/01/10/straw-poll-predictions/21576395/

In a move that surprised his most loyal supporters and former staff, Mitt Romney told several donors Friday he is seriously considering a third run for the White House… “Mitt has been a terrific leader for the Republican Party, but if he runs again, he’ll have to earn it again,” said veteran Republican operative Phil Musser, a former Romney supporter. His firm is already handling preliminary campaign work for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, but Musser says he has not committed to a candidate… “Jeb Bush forced everyone’s hand,” said Barney Keller, a Republican strategist. “If he’s serious, Romney needs...

A tidbit buried at the end of a Romney adviser’s longish rationalization of why Mitt Romney may yet again run for the GOP’s nomination suggests Romney does not think Jeb Bush has what it takes to win the GOP nomination. BuzzFeed reports: According to one former adviser, the biggest political question Romney will be considering as he makes his decision is whether Bush will be able to make it to the general election. “Look, Jeb’s a good guy. I think the governor likes Jeb,” the adviser said. “But Jeb is Common Core, Jeb is immigration, Jeb has been talking about...

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Mitt Romney told Republican donors he may pursue another presidential run at a meeting in New York. The Washington Post writes: Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told Republican donors in New York on Friday that he is seriously considering a third presidential campaign in 2016, according to a source present at the meeting. 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. The former Massachusetts governor held a...

Romney tells donors he is considering 2016 campaign Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told Republican donors in New York on Friday that he is seriously considering a third presidential campaign in 2016, ... “I believe Mitt Romney is too much of a patriot to sit on the sidelines ... Zwick said.... 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. The former Massachusetts governor held a lengthy meeting on Friday with about 30 major...

From the first day of 2011, Mitt Romney was the favorite to win the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign. No one else was even close. The 2016 outlook could not be more different. Offered the choice to bet on one single candidate to win the nomination versus the rest of the field, the choice would have to be "the field." For the first time in years, there is no one next in line. And without a former vice president or powerhouse former candidate looking likely to run, Republicans are shaping up to spend the next year and a half fighting...

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said that the president was bothered “a ton” by the thought of Mitt Romney winning the presidency and reaping credit for Obama’s perceived economic successes, saying that it could’ve been a massive setback for left-wing economic policy. Pfeiffer was speaking with the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein and Jennifer Bendery. “The thing that worried him most about losing was the idea that he would lose, Romney would come in, the economy would now do what it’s doing, because it’s on a trajectory –” Pfeiffer began, “and all the credit would go to Romney,” Stein interjected....

Happy new year! Welcome to the start of the presidential campaign marathon. For your consideration are five likely candidates, each representing a distinct segment of the U.S. political spectrum. Republicans have three probable candidates. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush would represent the business conservative wing of the GOP -- Pew Research estimates this is 12 percent of likely voters. Bush would be the favorite of the big GOP spenders, the one percent that favors capitalism over democracy. Jeb's strengths are national name recognition, personable manner, Hispanic spouse, and reputation for moderation on social issues. His weaknesses: high unfavorability ratings and...

In a Wednesday post, Hot Air reported on something a friend of Mitt Romney said about the 2012 presidential candidate’s desire to enter the 2016 race. It seems that if it looks like Jeb Bush is the frontrunner, Romney will sit the next race out. However, if Ted Cruz is on his way to the nomination, Romney will enter the race to save the Republican Party and the country from the conservative firebrand. One of the many raps against Cruz is that, while he is the favorite of the conservative, tea party base, he lacks the ability to reach out...

SALT LAKE CITY — Mitt Romney is eyeing a third run for the White House and will get in the race in the coming months if he doesn't like how the GOP field is looking, his longtime friend Kem Gardner said Monday. "I know exactly what Mitt's going to do," Gardner, a real estate developer who helped bring Romney to Utah to lead the 2002 Winter Olympics, told KSL News. "I think over the next few months, a lot of things will happen." But Spencer Zwick, who raised $1 billion for Romney's 2012 campaign, said the decision is a personal...