Mitt Romney may have quit the prospective 2016 presidential race on Friday, but it did not quit him.
Shortly after his 11am announcement that he wouldn’t be seeking the Republican nomination, Romney and his wife, Ann, had lunch with Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of the favorite to become the Democratic nominee. Later Friday, the couple was scheduled to have dinner with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who is exploring a run on the Republican side.
Christie was early to endorse Romney in the 2012 presidential race and took an active role in the campaign, including delivering the keynote address at the Republican nominating convention. Not much bravery of speculation would seem to be required to say that he is seeking to bring Romney on board early in a bid to upend the heaviest name in the field: Jeb Bush.
The midtown Manhattan lunch that brought the Romneys together with Chelsea Clinton was a charity benefit for the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s hospital. Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. The Romneys were seated with Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky.
“It was fantastic. She’s very inspiring,” Ann Romney was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying of Chelsea Clinton after the event. “We talked about disease. Brain disease.”
If they did avoid politics, it was perhaps for the best. Mitt Romney devoted part of a speech Wednesday to criticizing Hillary Clinton, in what was seen at the time as a preview of a possible clash between the pair on the presidential campaign trail.
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cluelessly pressed a reset button for Russia, which smiled and then invaded Ukraine, a sovereign nation,” Romney said, according to remarks obtained by ABC News.
Romney may say it again – or worse – in the next two years. But it appears he will be talking from the sidelines.
