Romney not running He tells backers he could have won but realizes it would have been 'a hard fight.'

Mitt Romney will not run for president a third time, he said Friday on a conference call with donors, a surprise announcement that caps three weeks of heightened will-he-or-won’t-he speculation.

“After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I have decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee,” the former Massachusetts governor, reading from a script, said during a five-minute call.


Romney took no questions, and he named none of the other contenders for the nomination.

Top GOP sources said that Romney flinched at Jeb Bush’s strength in fundraising and early polling. Just Thursday, the former Florida governor poached a close Romney adviser who had run his 2012 Iowa campaign.

Bush is the most obvious beneficiary of Romney sitting it out. The former Florida governor is aggressively traveling the country to put up a massive first quarter fundraising number, which he hopes will help him build an organizational juggernaut.

The brother of the former president posted a gracious note on Facebook, saying that he knows Romney’s decision “was not easy” and that looks forward to working with him. “Mitt is a patriot and I join many in hoping his days of serving our nation and our party are not over,” Bush wrote.

Chris Christie is the other winner. The New Jersey governor is a strong competitor for the allegiance of the establishment wing of the GOP, and it could have been very difficult for him to raise serious money with both Bush and Romney hitting up his biggest donors.

Romney, who led the conference call from New York City, will have dinner on Friday night with Christie. Two sources said that the dinner has been on the books for awhile. Romney had a similar sit-down with Bush last week in Salt Lake City.

Those closest to Romney have been pushing him hard to run, especially his main fundraisers and some of his strategists from last time. But there was very little encouragement from outside of his inner circle.

In the three weeks since Romney floated a trial balloon during a meeting with donors in New York, the response has been mostly negative among early-state activists, conservative thought leaders in the media and a swath of donors who feel like Romney had his chance.

Romney asserted that he he could have won the nomination if he tried during the Friday call, which drew donors, political leaders from several of the early states and senior members of Romney’s own 2012 high command who were unsure of his intentions.

Romney insisted that his finance team and political team found encouraging signs. He also pointed to polls that show he is leading in the first four states that kick off the nominating process. After traveling to places like Mississippi Wednesday, Romney said “the reaction of Republican voters was both surprising and heartening.”

“So I am convinced that we could win the nomination, but fully realize it would have been a difficult test and a hard fight,” he said.

He also said again that he believes he is currently the Republican’s best hope to beat the Democratic nominee.

“But that is before the other contenders have had the opportunity to take their message to the voters,” he added. “I believe that one of our next generation republican leaders, one that may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not taken their message across the country, one that is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democratic nominee. In fact, expect and hope that to be the case.”

Romney’s call for a new generation of Republican leaders could be taken by some as an implicit rub at Bush, 61, who last won election in 2002.

Romney, a former Bain Capital executive, approached a potential third campaign by trying to think pragmatically about whether he should run.

At this point in 2011, Romney had a big team in place. This time, he’s been much slower in revving up. He’s relying on a close-knit circle of family, including his son Tagg, and key advisers from last time. On Thursday, it emerged that Dave Kochel — who ran Iowa for Romney in 2012 — has defected to Jeb Bush. The New York Times reported that he’ll move to Florida and will become Bush’s national campaign manager.

Ben Ginsberg, his main liaison to Washington last time and a “super lawyer” who played a variety of key roles on the campaign, was also expected to back Bush. Other staff from last time have been trying to get clarity on what their roles might have been.

Near the end of the donor call, Romney said it “seems unlikely” that he will change his mind. He said he will not organize a new political action committee, take donations or hire a campaign team. He also explicitly gave his donors permission to commit to someone else.

“You can’t imagine how hard it is for Ann and me to step aside, especially knowing of your support and the support of so many people across the country,” Romney said in his prepared remarks for the call. “But we believe it is for the best of the party and the nation.”

Ben White and Lucy McCalmont contributed to this report.