Despite Romney's Defeat, Venture Capitalists Run for Office

Less than a year after Democrats successfully portrayed Mitt Romney as a wealthy corporate raider out of touch with the middle class, Business Week reports that "a host of Republican private equity executives have elected to run for office, despite Romney's drubbing."

Gabriel Gomez, who worked for the Advent International private equity firm, is the Republican nominee in the special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts June 25.

In addition, former GTCR Chairman Bruce Rauner is one of several Republicans vying for nomination to be governor of Illinois next year. In Minnesota, former Gores Group senior executive Scott Honour is seeking the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton in 2014.

"What each of these candidates shares," concluded Business Week, "is a conviction that he can do a better job than Romney of turning his private sector experience into an asset."

But, already, the Democratic salvos are being fired. No sooner had Gomez won the Republican nomination than the liberal Senate Majority Political Action Committee branded him "Mitt Romney Jr." In the Gopher State, liberal organizations have been calling Honour "Minnesota's Mitt Romney."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.