A week or two ago I noted sadly that rumors of Mitt Romney making another try for the presidency in 2016 were unlikely to pan out. Mitt himself said so! But now, the rumors are flyin’ fiercer than ever, thanks to Republican man about town Byron York, who gave the story new life. According to Ann Romney, Mitt won’t go if Jeb Bush does, but if Jeb stays out, Mitt goes in.
Both Mitt and Jeb would make terrible primary candidates and terrible candidates in the actual campaign as well. They’re poisonous to the base and unexciting to moderates. The idea that anyone could think that Jeb could win suggests that the Wall Street gang is still refusing to admit that the Republican Party base simply loathes the kind of immigration “reform” that Jeb is pushing. As far as the base is concerned, there are too many damn furriners in the country already! Stop trying to bring in more! If Jeb does stay out and Mitt does go in, Mitt will bear the double burden of being both the old Mitt Romney and the new Jeb Bush.
The fact that either of these two establishment dogs is still in the running convinces me that the Wall Street wing of the Republican Party thinks New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is still toast. I don’t think Big Chris agrees with this, at all, which should make for a fun primary. If 2016 looks like a Republican year, and I think it will, I think Chris will be in it to win it, come hell or high water.
Also left out in the cold is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whose fair-haired boy status has dropped immensely over the past two years. Mark might be willing to settle for vice president, which, I think, is how a lot of people see him.
Hovering satanically in the wings is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. No one pumps the base like Ted. He’s got the hate like no one else. So what if he tried to blow up the country’s credit rating. He wouldn’t do that if he were president, would he?
Afterwords/Update
More good news! Rick Santorum is tanned, rested, and ready for 2016! Anna Palmer lays it all out for us in Politico. Now, the Return o’ Rick may be Politico’s gift to itself, because, for reporters, a presidential primary can’t have too many candidates, but Santorum definitely sounds like he’s for real. And, to paraphrase La Rochefoucauld on women, it is easier to find a politician who has never run for president than to find one who has run only once.
