NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - MARCH 15: Former Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivers remarks during the second day of the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) March 15, 2013 in National Harbor, Maryland. The American conservative Union held its annual conference in the suburb of Washington, DC, to rally conservatives and generate ideas. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers remarks during the second day of the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) March 15, 2013 in National Harbor, Md. (credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — Despite his continuous denials, some still believe that Mitt Romney will run for president in 2016.

Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, went one step further saying that the former Massachusetts governor will be occupying the White House after the next presidential election.

“I think he actually is going to run for president. He probably doesn’t want me to say that. A hundred times he says he’s not, but Mitt Romney has always accomplished what he has set out to do,” Chaffetz told MSNBC. “I think he’s proven right on a lot of stuff. I happen to be in the camp that thinks that he’s actually going to run and I think he will be the next president of the United States.”

A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found that 45 percent of American voters believed the U.S. would have been better off with Romney as president, compared to 38 percent who stated the U.S. would be in worse shape. The same poll also found that 33 percent of voters believe President Barack Obama is the worst president since 1945.

Romney was in New Hampshire last week, campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown.

Romney insisted he would not pursue a third White House bid but called on voters to punish Obama by giving Republicans the Senate majority this fall.

“I know that the president is not on the ballot this November, but the people of New Hampshire have a chance to vote on what they think about the president’s agenda,” Romney told hundreds of people who showed up at the rally.

The day was supposed to be focused on Brown’s quest to defeat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen this fall, part of a larger Republican push to pick up the six seats needed to claim the Senate majority for the final two years of Obama’s presidency. But Romney’s return to the state where he began and ended his last presidential campaign loomed over the event.

The rally took place at Scamman’s Bittersweet Farm, the same location where the former Massachusetts governor formally launched his second presidential campaign three years earlier.

“We had an election in 2012 in which clearly the wrong person won,” former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu said to cheers.

Romney was mobbed by supporters — some wore T-shirts from his last campaign — after his brief remarks. Several people encouraged him to launch another presidential campaign. As he has done consistently in recent months, Romney insisted he had no interest. He said the Republican Party would likely have 14 or 15 candidates to pick from.

“I’m going to get behind the one who I think has the best chance of winning,” he said and later added, “We’ll get someone who can win.”

Romney dominated his Republican opponents in New Hampshire’s 2012 presidential primary on his way to capturing the GOP nomination, but he lost to Obama by more than 5 percentage points in the general election.

Romney’s loss to Obama effectively pushed him into political exile. But he has been playing a growing role in national Republican affairs ahead of the November midterm elections. So far this year, he has endorsed more than 30 candidates running for statewide office or for Congress in two dozen states, although he has appeared publicly in only a handful.

Brown noted Romney’s special relationship with New Hampshire, where the former Massachusetts governor has a summer home.

“New Hampshire knows Mitt Romney very, very well, and not just because he won the presidential primary here,” he said. “We know him as the upright and capable man who we wish were president right now.”

Brown’s advisers see Romney as a unifying force for New Hampshire Republicans still divided about Brown’s candidacy. The former Massachusetts senator formally moved to the state several months ago. And his moderate positions on social issues and gun laws irk some conservatives.

Asked whether he still had the presidential “bug” ahead of 2016, Romney kept the focus on Brown.

“I got the bug to help Scott — that’s about it,” he said.

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