Mitt Romney Will Decide on 2012 Presidential Run After Congressional Elections
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 5, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he will decide after the 2010 Congressional elections whether to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, ran as a pro-life candidate against eventual nominee John McCain.
Romney is one of several Republicans considering a bid against Obama and consistently polls in the top three in most surveys of Republicans and American voters.
He has ranked as one of the top potential candidates along with pro-life former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
In a new interview with Fox News slated to air Wednesday, Romney discusses his plans.
"It’s always a possibility, and you keep the options open, but, you concentrate on the task ahead, for me that’s trying to get some good people elected in 2010," he says on the Fox News program "Fox and Friends."
"And, I know once that’s done the next item on the agenda is what’s 2012 going to be; and, Ann and I will give that some thought and make the decision then," he added.
Appearing like a candidate, or at least an advocate for "change" in 2010, Romney voiced criticism of Obama, saying he has governed from the left when he pledged to be a moderate.
"I had higher hopes for him," Romney said. "I knew he was a smart individual — I thought that he would learn that governing from the middle was the right way to go, as president Clinton learned his second term, but he’s made a lot of the mistakes that ideologues often do, which is thinking that everybody in the country voted for their extreme agenda."
Romney also talked about Palin in the interview on the Fox News show and diffused rumors that she may consider a third-party presidential bid.
"I don’t know what her plans are but my expectation is that she’ll stay in the Republican party," he said.
"Look, she’s a great, energizing member of the party. She has good ideas that have galvanized a lot of support for the party and she’s a welcome addition," he added.
During the campaign, Romney said he is pro-life on abortion and went as far as endorsing the overturning of Roe v. Wade so states can again protect women and unborn children from abortion.
However, the former governor came under fire from some quarters for his state health care plan, which includes taxpayer-funded abortions. Romney countered that the state Supreme Court required abortion funding under the program.
A Gallup survey asked Republicans to say whether they would like any of several potential presidential candidates.
Some 71 percent of Republicans say they would seriously consider voting for Huckabee while the same 65 percent say they would consider Romney or Palin, both of whom ran as pro-life candidates in 2008.
A previous Rasmussen poll found 29% of Republican voters nationwide say Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 presidential campaign.
The survey had 24 percent preferring Romney and 18% would cast their vote for pro-life former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
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