For One Day, Mitt Romney Can Pretend He’s President
Everything’s coming up Mitt Romney on Wednesday. On the same day that the former presidential candidate will campaign to cheering crowds in New Hampshire — the place where his presidential campaign began — a new poll found that more voters would have preferred a Romney presidency.
Let’s start with the New Hampshire trip, where Romney is set to campaign and publicly speak to promote Senate hopeful (and former Mass. Senator) Scott Brown at Scamman’s Bittersweet Farm. That’s the same location where Romney formally initiated his presidential campaign back in 2011, and it will surely bring up bittersweet memories of his last go-round as a candidate. Just like at that presidential pep rally, the site will again be full of supporters urging him on to run for president again.
Those supporters have only grown stronger in the last few years, as a plurality of American voters now wish Romney had won the presidency, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac. Forty-five percent of voters said America would have been better off with a Romney win in the 2012 election, while 38 percent said the US would be worse off. In particular, that number largely reflects the message of Independent voters, of which 47 percent said that America would be better off with Romney as president. “Would Mitt have been a better fit?’’ Quinnipiac Assistant Director Tim Malloy said. “More voters in hindsight say ‘yes.’’’
Romney insists he won’t be running for president for a third time, but he’s certainly not going away quietly into hiding, as he has campaigned on behalf of about 30 candidates so far this year. And for Wednesday, at least, he can close his eyes, hear the roaring New Hampshire crowd where it all began, and wonder ‘What If.’
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