US Republican Mitt Romney, the two-time presidential candidate, has passed on a third attempt after briefly flirting with another bid, bolstering the chances of the next leading potential candidate Jeb Bush.
The former 2012 Republican told supporters in a conference call that he had chosen not to pursue another attempt to win the presidency in 2016. He said that it was “best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee” and that a new candidate may have a better chance of beating the next Democratic nominee.
The one-time Republican nominee who lost to Barack Obama in the 2012 election fired up the party's race to select a candidate in the 2016 presidential election when he surprised many grassroots Republicans earlier this month by telling donors he was exploring a third run.
“I’ve been asked, and will certainly be asked again, if there are any circumstances whatsoever that might develop that could change my mind – that seems unlikely,” he told former aides in the conference call announcing his decision not to run for a third time.
Next generation
Mr Romney did not endorse any other potential candidates on the long list of Republicans who are considering presidential bids.
“One of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well-known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee,” he said.
The Utah-based politician said he was not organising a political fundraising committee or taking donations and that he was not hiring a campaign team. This frees up other candidates, particularly Mr Bush, to tap the large pool of donors in the Republican establishment along with experienced campaign staff who might have helped Mr Romney.
His decision to contemplate a third presidential campaign drew criticism from some Republicans, including former supporters, who felt that his chance to be president had passed.
Operative lost
Mr Romney’s decision came a day after he lost a high-profile Republican operative, David Kochel, who played a critical role in his 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Mr Kochel was hired by Mr Bush, who said in December that he was actively exploring a presidential bid.
Mr Bush, a brother and son of two former presidents, stands to record the biggest gain from Mr Romney’s decision in what is expected to be a hard-fought primary campaign to pick the Republican nominee.
The two men, who met last week, led among Republican voters, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News opinion poll last month. Mr Romney had 69 per cent support and Mr Bush 63 per cent, ahead of senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
A poll by Fox News published on Thursday put support for Mr Romney at 21 per cent of Republican voters, and in his absence support for Mr Bush at 15 per cent, ahead of Mr Paul and Mr Huckabee, who were tied at 13 per cent.
Poll performance
Mr Romney noted his strong showing in these polls, telling his supporters that he was “convinced with the help of the people on this call, we could win the nomination,” though he noted that it “would have been a difficult test and a hard fight”.
A losing candidate to John McCain for the Republican nomination in 2008, Mr Romney was picked as the party’s 2012 candidate.
He lost the 2012 election with 47 per of the popular vote to Barack Obama’s 51 per cent and with 206 electoral college votes to Mr Obama’s 332, winning just one of nine battleground states in the election.*
*This article was edited on January 31st, 2015
