# If Romney loses, does he run again in 2016? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 8, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042 "2012-10-08T02:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/41 "2012-10-08T23:33:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > In real life nobody cares about this “turn” stuff. Romney won the nomination this year because he learned from his failure in 2008 and spent a lot of time building a better primary campaign and enlisting support inside the party. Those were major advantages. Without that and his fundraising, he would not have been able to beat the pack of nitwits and lunatics who ran against him this year, and that’s saying something. 2016 will be better by default, and it’ll be that much better if guys who can at leas t pretend to be consistent and interesting (Crist, Rubio, etc.) make a run. Nobody is going to care if Ryan or Santorum or anyone else can claim it’s his turn; they may have advantages in name recognition at the beginning of the process but that often translates to nothing at all. Crist? He’s not even a republican anymore, and he just endorsed Obama. He has as much of a chance of getting the republican nomination in 2016 as a non-incumbant Romney does. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/42 "2012-10-08T23:44:18Z")
First of all, if Gore had decided to be the voice of the loyal opposition he could have ran and might have won in 2004, but after 9/11 Gore took on the role of the elder statesman of the environment and so was not in a position to come back. Think of what Palin has tried to do since her defeat. She saw herself as the leading Republican and was definately planning a 2012 run. Thank god someone talked her out of that. Even if Romney wanted to run, his campaign has been such a travesty that he would never make it past Iowa and Hew Hampshire in the primaries. No one would vote for him because he’s already shown that under the best circumstances he can’t win the general election. My biggest fear is after losing twice with “moderate candidates” that what we need is “more flair”\* in a candidate and we are going to go so far Right that Reagan will look like a Communist by comparison. \*from _Office Space_ ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/43 "2012-10-08T23:56:23Z")
Of course he won’t run again. He could try, of course, but if he loses this year there’s no way in hell he’d get the Republican nomination again. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/44 "2012-10-09T00:18:06Z")
> [@Randvek](#): > > We won’t see Gore running for office again anytime soon. I don’t know how much everyone followed it, but his personal life got real messy there for a while. It would haunt him too much in a campaign. As I remember it, he was sued for sexual harassment by a masseuse and the case was laughed out of court (2006), his son had some drug problems (2007), and he separated from his wife (2010). Were he interested, I don’t think that would deter him and I am sure it wouldn’t be enough to derail a campaign. > [@drewtwo99](#): > > Crist? He’s not even a republican anymore, and he just endorsed Obama. He has as much of a chance of getting the republican nomination in 2016 as a non-incumbant Romney does. That was supposed to be _Christie_. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/45 "2012-10-09T00:46:36Z")
What’s interesting about Christie is that he’s not really a conservative. Conservatives just love him because he talks tough. But I’m not sure he’d win the nomination unless he was the head of a weak field. The guy most likely to be “next” is Paul Ryan, although Bob McDonnell, Mike Pence(assuming he becomes governor of Indiana), and Bobby Jindal would be highly rated as well. Rubio is attractive, but very young and with no leadership or management experience. Like Jindal and Pence, he would benefit from running for governor of Florida, perhaps in 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/46 "2012-10-09T03:10:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > What’s interesting about Christie is that he’s not really a conservative. How so? He might be rather moderate, but he hardly is a Michael Bloomberg or Charlie Crist. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/47 "2012-10-09T03:19:39Z")
True, but he’s pretty close to Rudy Giuliani. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/48 "2012-10-09T05:22:56Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The guy most likely to be “next” is Paul Ryan, although Bob McDonnell, Mike Pence(assuming he becomes governor of Indiana), and Bobby Jindal would be highly rated as well. Rubio is attractive, but very young and with no leadership or management experience. Like Jindal and Pence, he would benefit from running for governor of Florida, perhaps in 2018. The problem with McDonnell, Pence, Jindal, Rubio, and some of the other names being mentioned is that they’re campaign virgins. None of them have ever run a presidential-level campaign before so nobody knows how they will hold up. Who would have guessed that Perry would fold under the pressure and Santorum would blossom? With the exception of George W. Bush, no Republican candidate since Goldwater has gotten the nomination their first time in the running. I think it’s a reflection of Republican nature - they’re conservatives and their first choice is to go with something they’re familiar with before trying something new. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/49 "2012-10-09T13:42:46Z")
True, which would make Ryan a heavy favorite in 2016 if he runs. But without an obvious “next” choice, someone has to win and odds are that in a large field someone will prove to be clearly superior to the others. Of course, Mike Huckabee is credible enough to be “next” if he chooses to run in 2016. And Bushes automatically count as “next” if they run. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/50 "2012-10-09T13:47:19Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Of course, Mike Huckabee is credible enough to be “next” if he chooses to run in 2016. And Bushes automatically count as “next” if they run. Mike Huckabee is not credible now and wasn’t in 2008. He’s perfectly content to spew anti-Obama venom on Fox. “Real” Republicans would reject him because he has some compassion for the poor. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/51 "2012-10-09T14:07:17Z")
You would think, but he’s likeable and is a good campaigner. His 2008 campaign didn’t die from gaffes and missteps, it died from simple lack of money and being relatively unknown before he won in Iowa. I don’t like Huckabee’s policies either. Compassionate conservatism is an oxymoron, at least at the public policy level. It’s just big government conservatism. We tried that with Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042/52 "2012-10-10T18:23:47Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > If Romney can’t win against a candidate facing as much irrational hatred as Obama is, how will he win against whatever eager, young, up and coming Democrat that follows him? I would bet that this “eager, young, up and coming Democrat” will suddenly be found to be an un-american communist radical who is the most liberal candidate ever seen to seek the presidency and has a secret plan to destroy America. Generating irrational hatred is the best weapon the right has they aren’t going to drop it in the next four years. Still I agree that Romney won’t be likely to do any better against him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-romney-loses-does-he-run-again-in-2016/637042.md?page=2)