# Mitt Romney, presidential bid as a democrat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 14, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129 "2023-09-14T23:17:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/101 "2023-09-14T23:50:15Z")
Would I vote for Romney over Trump? Sure, and I’m a Democrat. But it would have to be a very dark day if those are our only two choices. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/102 "2023-09-14T23:53:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That still leaves him well to the right of substantially all 1980s Republicans plus all Democrats ever. Well, at least “all Democrats since a lot of the white southern Democrats became Republicans in the 1960s and 1970s.” It’s hard to believe now, but guys like Strom Thurmond, George Wallace, and Jesse Helms were all once Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/103 "2023-09-14T23:54:02Z")
The only way you’d ever face that choice would be in a Republican primary. (2 posts above) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/104 "2023-09-14T23:59:47Z")
@kenobi_65 two posts up. Excellent correction, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/105 "2023-09-15T00:18:10Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Yeah obviously would not do too well with the far left but he could pull from the center and the center right The “center” is Biden, and the “center right” doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/106 "2023-09-15T00:18:29Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > The only way you’d ever face that choice would be in a Republican primary. > > (2 posts above) His name is mud in a big part of the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/107 "2023-09-15T00:27:35Z")
Yeah, because he’s a traditional conservative. How do you think that will fly with Democrats? (His name is not merely mud with Democrats.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/108 "2023-09-15T00:34:54Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > he has been laying the groundwork for a party switch No, he hasn’t. > [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I don’t completely rule it out I think he would make an extremely strong Democratic candidate. What possible policy positions does he hold that would garner a single iota of support in the Democratic primaries? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/109 "2023-09-15T00:42:48Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > What possible policy positions does he hold that would garner a single iota of support in the Democratic primaries? I think he is smart and could simply sell the policies he needs to sell to get elected. He would be no threat as a republican but we have a lot in both parties right now that are very unhappy with their fringes. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/110 "2023-09-15T00:49:28Z")
He says Trump is too old, and Romney’s only nine months younger. I suspect Liz Cheney is secretly but truly centrist. Can’t believe it for Mitt. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/111 "2023-09-15T00:50:22Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I think he is smart and could simply sell the policies he needs to sell to get elected. Unless he **completely** changes his stances on things like abortion, reproductive health, and gun laws, there’s no way he gets any significant amount of support from liberal voters in primaries against **actual** liberal Democrats. He’s been more willing to “work across the aisle” than most of his GOP colleagues. That does **not** make him a centrist, in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/112 "2023-09-15T00:50:36Z")
Perhaps you have confused the Democratic Party with No Labels? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/113 "2023-09-15T01:06:47Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Both Biden and Trump are undesirable for about 70% of the population. I don’t think that’s true about Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/114 "2023-09-15T01:11:14Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I think he is smart and could simply sell the policies he needs to sell to get elected. If he could do that, he’d have done it in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/115 "2023-09-15T01:33:50Z")
That whole “Lets vote against our own self-interests just to drive the other party crazy” strategy is a Republican thing, not a Democratic thing. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/116 "2023-09-15T01:43:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Also, memories aren’t _that_ short, and liberal voters will remember his comments from his 2012 presidential run, like: “I like firing people” “Corporations are people, my friend” And many more! Order now! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/117 "2023-09-15T01:45:34Z")
Yeah, we just stay at home on Election Day and pout because our preferred candidate didn’t get the nomination, despite holding nearly identical positions on actionable policies, resulting in catastrophic damage to our democracy. It’s our charm. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/118 "2023-09-15T01:52:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Why on Earth would you think Romney would have any amount of support among Democrats? Well, besides the fact that lots of them voted for him when they elected him governor of Massachusetts? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/119 "2023-09-15T01:57:18Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > In fact, if Christie is determined to keep Trump out of the White House, they should team up for a Christie/Romney Independent ticket to split the R vote and his goal will likely be accomplished. Form the AIAG Party, (America Is Already Great) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129/120 "2023-09-15T02:00:57Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > he has been laying the groundwork for a party switch How so? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitt-romney-presidential-bid-as-a-democrat/990129.md?page=7)