Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, isn’t running for re-election, but he’s using his dying political breath to offer unsolicited advice to presidential candidates.
Not only is Romney encouraging GOP donors to dump Trump, but he’s also told at least two Democrat senators to launch a primary campaign against incumbent President Joe Biden.
Deseret News reported —
Romney said he’s encouraged Democratic senators — including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia — to challenge Biden.
But, he said, Democrats have told him that the likely heir to Biden is a more progressive Democrat like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts or independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“And they don’t want that — they don’t think that’s right for the country, either,” he said…
Romney made the remarks Tuesday evening during a Q&A with his former running mate and former House Speaker Paul Ryan at the E2 Summit in Park City, a gathering of influential Republican donors and thinkers.
No one has ever succeeded in primarying an incumbent president. Theodore Roosevelt came close in 1912, but Mark Warner is no Roosevelt.
Plus, Biden has already beaten Cory Booker in one primary. Biden emerged as the runaway victor in 2020, with Booker ending his campaign a whole month before the Iowa caucus.
In some polls from the last two months, Biden has been sitting more than 50 points ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was then the second-place challenger in the Democratic primaries.
Meanwhile, Romney has won several statewide elections but never a presidential election… and he’s attempted twice.
Still, Romney had some advice for the big donors, and even Romney himself admitted that no one looked likely to take his advice.
The Washington Post reported —
Ryan on Tuesday night asked Romney to pinpoint how soon donors would have to coalesce around one candidate — essentially forcing lower-tier candidates from the race — to avoid the “train wreck coming” that would be Trump clinching the GOP nomination.
Romney predicted that multiple candidates will try to stay in the race for the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — though some will run out of money before then. He said he viewed the end of February as “D-Day.”
“I’d like it to coalesce earlier; I just think it has to happen,” Romney said. “I want to put responsibility on your shoulders as the people who are financing campaigns to have some say as to when it’s time for the person you support to say, ‘Okay, I’m getting behind someone else.’”
The Horn editorial team