A forthcoming book that chronicles the 2012 presidential race indicates that Mitt Romney did not want to launch a White House bid.
The book, “Collision 2012,” was written by Dan Balz of The Washington Post and is one of two books on last year’s presidential election for which Romney granted interviews. The other, “Double Down: Game Change 2012,” is a follow-up by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann to their smash hit on the 2008 race.
Balz’s book is due to be released in August, but The Huffington Post obtained a copy and reported Tuesday on some of the details. One excerpt mined by HuffPo details that Romney was one of 10 family members to vote against the idea of a 2012 presidential campaign. Twelve family members cast votes in the poll, which was conducted over a 2010 holiday vacation in Hawaii.
Romney’s hesitation stemmed from his moderate record as governor of Massachusetts and his Mormon faith, two factors he believed could derail his candidacy in the Republican primaries. But ultimately, Romney told Balz that no other GOP aspirant last year had a legitimate chance of topping President Barack Obama in a general election.
“I didn’t think that any one of them had a good chance of defeating the president, and in some cases I thought that they lacked the experience and perspective necessary to do what was essential to get the country on track,” Romney told Balz, according to HuffPo.
