'I’m just not going to let my head go there,' Romney says. Mitt: 'Circumstances can change'

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has repeatedly said he is not planning to run for president in 2016 but acknowledged Tuesday that “circumstances can change.”

“Circumstances can change, but I’m just not going to let my head go there,” Romney said during an interview on the nationally syndicated radio program “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”


“I had the chance of running,” the 2012 Republican presidential nominee told Hewitt. “I didn’t win. Someone else has a better chance than I do. And that’s what we believe, and that’s why I’m not running.”

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Romney referenced a scene from the movie “Dumb and Dumber,” when pressed about running again for the GOP nomination, saying the chance he’d run is “one of a million.”

“Let’s say all the guys that were running all came together and said, ‘Hey, we’ve decided we can’t do it, you must do it.’ That’s the one of a million we’re thinking about,” Romney said.

Romney’s former running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, is one person who has said he wishes Romney would run again.

“I sure wish he would,” Ryan said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I think he’d make a phenomenal president. He has the intellect, the honor, the character and the temperament to be a fantastic president. … But he keeps saying that he’s not going to run.”

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On Tuesday, Romney continued to bat away a bid, saying a possible GOP contender “not defined yet” and “perhaps … from the next generation” could take on Hillary Clinton if she becomes the Democratic nominee.

“Had I believed I would actually be best positioned to beat Hillary Clinton, then I would be running,” Romney said.