Are You Ready for Mitt Romney in 2016?
Is America still “Ready for Romney?”
Like other politicians who remain cagey about whether they’ll run for president, the former Massachusetts governor now has his own supporters attempting to draft him into the 2016 presidential race. And they appear to have a newly launched website, RomneyReady.com.
As journalists wonder about this particular website’s origins, press reports already show that there is a movement of people who want the former Massachusetts governor to launch a third presidential campaign. Sure, he lost the general election in 2012, they say. But since then, President Obama’s poll numbers have declined, suggesting some buyers’ remorse.
News reports increasingly suggest that Romney is actually thinking about it. Romney himself has gone from answering that “will you run for president?” question with a “Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no,” to a “Circumstances can change, but I’m just not going to let my head go there.” In the weird kabuki dance of saying you’re not running for president until you’re running for president, that’s enough of a hint for some people.
That said, a recent Politico article about Romney’s prospects suggests there’s likely something more mundane at work in all these rumors:
For most of the past year, even Republicans who admire Romney have believed the chatter about him possibly running for president has been mostly sparked by his former staffers or people involved with [his son’s firm] Solemere, seeing it as a boon for business.
It’s not without precedent, though. Richard Nixon won his party’s nomination, lost a general election, then managed to win the presidency in another year. Adlai Stevenson managed to get the Democratic nomination twice in a row, losing to Eisenhower both times. The question is—for the third time—are you Romney ready? And is Romney?
