Mitt Romney’s Inner Circle Plotting 2016 Strategy, Ignites Rumors of White House Battle
It’s no secret that Mitt Romney has his eyes on the White House and as such, his brain trust met in Boston this week to discuss his bid for president despite his loosing streak. Romney, who ran both in 2008 and 2012 will not attend the meeting himself but his chief advisors are, as reported by the National Review.
His brain trust includes his son Tagg, top aides Matt Waldrip and Spencer Zwick, political consultant Eric Fehrnstrom and his longtime confidante Beth Myers and Bob White; and his political adviser Ron Kaufman. While the group has made no announcement following the meeting, all the signals point to a battle for the presidency.
The prospect is not out of the question. Many conservatives continue to support Romney despite his two losses and the conservative buzz surrounding Mitt Romney on twitter seem quite supportive.
#Draftromney….Leader of the Pack again!!! Romney 2016….http://t.co/A2AMzrfi8L
— jscoombs (@jscoombs) January 23, 2015
Mitt Romney’s announcement that his is considering another jab at the presidency in 2016 made big waves and stole Jeb Bush’s thunder, who intended to announce his consideration early in the cycle as well. After Romney’s announcement, his most loyal donor’s stalled, deciding to wait until official announcements can be made by the Romney campaign. This suggests that they would have otherwise backed Jeb Bush or another republican heavy weight. Romney’s donors were more vocal about the issue.
“It’s been incredibly impressive how many of the large contributors remain solidly committed to Mitt and are prepared to support him in the race…What they’re looking for is a political strategy that leads to victory in the general election and they’d like to see a strategy that introduces the real Mitt Romney, the Mitt Romney that they know, to the American voters.”
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney did meet earlier in the week with likely presidential candidate Jeb Bush, but the two sidestepped questions regarding the 2016 presidential elections, as reported by USA Today.
According to Bush, they talked a little politics, foreign policy and the New England Patriots but no further details emerged so its unclear whether or not they discussed their 2016 plans although Bush hinted that such talks were put aside, suggesting further the possibility of their running for the same seat.
Furthering speculation, Romney announced his vision for 2016 last weeks meeting of the Republican National Committee,, seemingly addressing his 2012 campaign shortcomings and perhaps some of his 2016 strategy.
“We can win in 2016 as a party – in the House, in the Senate, and in the White House – if we communicate a clear vision of where we’re taking this country and what we believe in.”
According to the National Journal, Mitt Romney did not feel like the meeting was the right place to announce any official plans, but he was in full campaign mode, even if he ducked the subject. In the meeting, he laid out a three-point plan which included “Making the world safer, providing opportunity for all Americans, and lifting people out of poverty”.
