Had someone like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush entered the 2012 Republican primary, Mitt Romney says he might not have entered the presidential race.
In an interview with Dan Balz for the Washington Post reporter’s soon-to-be released “Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America,” Romney said that he would have seriously considered staying out of the presidential race if someone of Bush’s caliber declared his candidacy.
“I knew how grueling the process was, and I felt that there may be others who could be more effective in actually winning and then getting America on course,” Romney told Balz.
“And I thought, for instance, if someone like Jeb Bush were to have run, that he might well be able to do what was necessary to get the country on track. I got into this out of a sense of obligation to the things I believed in and love for the country, but not because it was something I desperately wanted so that I could feel better about myself.”
According to an excerpt of the book published in the Washington Post, unlike 2008, Romney and his family were not enthused about entering the political fray in 2012. While the entire family encouraged Romney to run in 2008, when the family took a vote during Christmas 2010, only Romney’s wife Ann and one of their five sons, Tagg, supported Romney running for president a second time in 2012. Even Romney himself initially voted against the prospect of another run, according to the book.