Is Romney running campaign for Nomination?

CLAIMS TRUMP VOTERS CAN BE REPLACED

BUSH, ROMNEY AND GOP

ADMITS GOAL IS TO SELECT CANDIDATE AT CONVENTION

Mitt Romney made his first appearance in the 2016 race by holding a press conference to demand Donald Trump release his tax returns. It was no coincidence that this was the same day as a scheduled debate for the republican candidates. He then came out the following week on the same day as the next debate to do a vicious hit piece on Donald Trump. He failed to endorse any other candidate, but did endorse a strategy to encourage a voting pattern to ensure that no candidate receives a majority of the delegates. This, he explained, will allow responsible members of the party to select a satisfactory candidate. I wonder who he thinks this will be?

Let's go back to the last election. Mitt was encouraged to run by the Bush coalition, even though he failed to win the nomination 4 years before. While encouraged, he did not receive strong support from the Bush people because the plan to run Jeb was in the works. They wanted to have Jeb run when they would not have to run a Bush against Obama. Mitt Romney ran a strong campaign, but he was ill at ease, guilty of his success, and did not convey a feeling of credibility to the electorate. At the end of the campaign he embraced the Chip Kelly strategy to try to hold onto his perceived lead by  going on defense. His perception was that he had it in the bag.  It failed miserably. He was afraid to directly take on Obama and feared he would do something wrong and hurt his campaign. He gave up the most important part of the campaign without a strong finish. Whether this was his decision or his advisers, who knows. He failed to bring out much of the republican base...receiving less republican votes than McCain and Palin.

Along comes 2016. Obama is very unpopular, his term is ending and his coalition is in jeopardy of falling apart. Mitt wants to run again, but he is discouraged by the Bush people because they have Jeb lined up with money, endorsements and the backing of the Bush coalition and the established republicans. They see this as a great time to win the presidency, as do 16 other republicans. Mitt complies and disappears until now. I do not believe he ever endorsed any candidate. On February 20, Jeb Bush announced he was ending his campaign. On February 25, Mitt Romney began his campaign to take the nomination at the convention. I have little doubt he has been encouraged to do this by his own regrets at losing and encouragement from the Bush family and establishment republicans.

The Bushs will never endorse Trump, since he humiliated Jeb and insulted Bush 2, even though he may have been right. To them this is payback. To Mitt, he sees Trump's success and cannot understand how such a course, inarticulate candidate is having such success. If Trump is doing this well, just think how well Mitt might have done. Besides, Trump called him dumb, a choker, and a loser. Romney now is on every talk show, trashing Trump, but failing to endorse any candidate. When asked if he would accept the nomination at the convention, he hedged all over the place to not answer the question. When asked what would happen to the party if the Trump voters would leave, he stated they would get other voters. One thing about this whole episode...people are being smoked out and showing what they really are...from Romney, the Bushs, to politicians all down the food chain. There will be long memories, possibly long after the present established party members are gone.

So we will see how all this works out. They may have destroyed Rubio's future. Romney will never win the presidency. Now the only hope for them is for Ted Cruz to win the primary. While Cruz and his wife have worked for the Bushs and Cruz had many ties to the establishment in his early days, it is still doubtful they will embrace him for president. Then there is Trump, who may have the longest memory of then all.