Romney Says No
By: Bill O'ReillyJanuary 30, 2015
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For about three weeks, Mitt Romney was running -- making speeches, trying to raise money, putting his finger up into the wind.

And here's what the wind told him: don't do it.

The governor says many of his previous donors -- big money people -- are now committed to Jeb Bush.

So, he's not running for president in 2016.

But there is something else here.

According to a recent Fox News poll, there was some bad news for Governor Romney.

The question, do you think Romney would have done a better job as president than Barack Obama?

  • Yes -- 43%
  • No -- 50%
  • 6% -- don't know

Now you have to assume Republicans would say yes, Democrats no, so the swing vote against Romney came from independents, just the people he would need to defeat Hillary Clinton.

That poll question was very bad news for Mitt Romney.

Now let's look ahead.

The same Fox News poll asked this:

Which candidate would you like to see as Republican nominee without Mitt Romney?

  • Jeb Bush -- 15% of registered Republicans
  • Mike Huckabee -- 13%
  • Rand Paul -- 13% 
  • Ben Carson --10% 
  • Scott Walker -- 9% to round out the top five.

So that means it is anybody's race; most of the Republican contenders have a chance.

For those men, it might be worthwhile to look back and see why Mitt Romney lost the last time around.

Up until about two weeks before the vote in 2012, Romney was leading in the national polls.

But in the last week of the campaign -- dominated by Superstorm Sandy coverage -- Romney seemed to disappear.

Adding to that, in the last debate with Barack Obama on foreign policy, the governor stumbled badly.

He did not confront the president with the Benghazi debacle.

That was inexplicable, a huge blunder.

As I've said before, I don't believe Mitt Romney really wanted to win the presidency.

It could have been subconscious, but no aggressive candidate would do what he did.

Barack Obama had massive trouble with the economy and his foreign policy was beginning to unravel.

Yet the governor did not exploit those key things.

Again, inexplicable.

This time against a very powerful and well-funded Hillary Clinton, the Republican candidate is going to have to be charismatic, daring, and coherent.

It's actually a good thing for the Republicans that Mitt Romney is not running.

Now, somebody new will be on the big stage.

But they'd better be ready for a bruising battle.

And that's the memo.