Mitt Romney knew he was capable of hurting the Republican Party in its quest to capture the White House, prompting his decision not to run for president, says Kyle Kondik, director of communications at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
"Overall, Romney sort of came to realize that a third bid here was probably a little bit of a long shot," Kondik said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"He probably also [knew he] would have ended up doing damage to the kind of establishment wing of the party, which is frankly the wing of the party that nominated him in 2012."
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On Friday, the former Massachusetts governor ended growing speculation that he would try a third time to be elected commander-in-chief , announcing:
"I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee.
"In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case."
Kondik agreed with other political observers that Romney's cheeky response may well have been a shot at former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 61, who is now the GOP frontrunner.
"Maybe it was just some sour grapes, he felt like sort of taking a shot at Bush out the door. I don’t' necessarily know if he's all that close with [New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie," he said.
"You can make the case that whatever you consider the establishment mainstream of the party, there's more candidates there than just Jeb Bush."
Kondik — who is also managing editor of the well-known election-predicting service "Sabato's Crystal Ball" — said a contest between Bush and presumed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton will be interesting as the two families are friends.
"Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush are pretty close. In fact, Clinton and George W. Bush have a decent relationship, too," Kondik said.
"It's just funny that, on one hand, these two extremely powerful political families may actually be running against each other in 2016, but they're very comfortable with each other.
"It kind of reminds me of World War I. It was like Tsar Nicholas and Kaiser Wilhelm were cousins and going back and forth, yet their countries were going to war with each other."
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