If Mitt Romney follows through with a presidential run in 2016, it will be different and better than his losing 2012 candidacy, according to Mitt Romney. Being different from year to year (or week to week) is nothing new for Romney when it comes to policy issues, but this time, the promise is that he's going to be more likable, less gaffe-prone, and run a more competent campaign. This could prove more of a challenge than
shaking an Etch A Sketch, and it's not clear Romney actually knows
how to be different:
... interviews with more than a dozen staffers and supporters who have recently spoken with Romney reveal conversations in which he promises a “different” path forward without providing specifics about what that means as far as mechanics and his own sometimes gaffe-ridden performance. And, aside from most of his communications team, Romney would still be expected to bring back the majority of his old staff, sources said.
Paul Ryan is out of the race, but Romney will still face
stiff competition for the staff and donors needed to mount a strong campaign:
Romney, who just a year ago categorically ruled out a third White House run, is to some extent playing catch-up. Some of his former supporters are lining up behind Bush for 2016, and some staffers are reluctant to join him again. Romney has been burning up the phones to top members of his old finance team, and he hopes to bring back a majority of his old staff, sources said. [...]
Romney has been in frequent touch with his longtime adviser Stuart Stevens, although it isn’t clear whether he would be brought back in the chief strategist role he held last time. But Russ Schriefer, Stevens’ partner and ad-maker, is aligned with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. People like former RNC official Ray Washburne have committed to playing key roles in a Christie campaign. And a number of donors say some Romney alumni would sooner back Christie than Bush, who’s had past friction with Romney.
It's going to be a tall order, simultaneously competing for staff and donors while remaking himself into a candidate who comes off as something other than a stiff, condescending plutocrat
and putting together a more competent campaign despite having many of the same top advisers. A Mitt Romney candidacy is likely to be an entertaining one, in other words.