Mitt Romney told a number of big GOP donors that he was seriously considering another run for president in 2016.
The Washington Post says Romney did not mince words.
“I want to be president,” Romney told about 30 donors in New York. He said that his wife, Ann — who last fall said she was emphatically against a run — had changed her mind and was now “very encouraging,” although their five sons remain split, according to multiple attendees.
Advisers said Romney discussed the race with his family over the holidays, when they spent time skiing in Park City, Utah, but he insisted that he has not made up his mind whether to run. Advisers said he recognizes that he would not be able to waltz into the nomination and that the intra-party competition is shaping up to be stiffer in next year’s primaries than it was in 2012.
Romney has long been rumored to be eyeing another campaign in 2016. However, most observers said Romney would not get in the race unless he found the potential GOP field wanting. Even with Jeb Bush moving to build a 2016 campaign, this says volumes about what Romney thinks of the possible slate of candidates.
However, Time says Romney's posturing is really just the extension of a spat between Romney and Jeb Bush. There's no love lost between the two men – Bush waited until well after the 2012 Florida Republican Primary to endorse Romney.
“The message here to Jeb is ‘slow your roll,'” says one senior Romney veteran. “There are donors who are very protective of Mitt and don’t like to see him treated this way.”
One Republican consultant suggests that posturing over a possible campaign was a way to signal that he wouldn’t cede automatically donors or staff to Bush. “Money for some is more important than policy,” says the consultant.
