Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will give a speech on Thursday addressing his party’s presidential race, according to online reports.The 2012 nominee and former Massachusetts governor will address the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.Romney’s involvement in the race so far has been limited to lashing out at GOP front-runner Donald Trump over his harsh rhetoric and refusal to release tax returns.Romney last week warned of a “bombshell” in Trump’s tax returns in a Fox News interview.“Either he’s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn’t been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay, or perhaps he hasn’t been giving money to the vets or the disabled like he’s been telling us he’s been doing.”Speculation had been mounting as to whether Romney will endorse a candidate, or even enter the race himself in an effort to counter Trump’s surging campaign.But a Romney aide told NBC News that the the speech on Thursday will not be an endorsement or a campaign announcement, though it will still “be worth covering.”Former Romney campaign strategist Katie Packer said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that she also doesn’t believe that he intends to jump into the race.“I don’t anticipate that,” she said when asked whether Romney was going to leave the door open for a possible candidacy.“I think he’s made it very clear that he has no intention of running again, but I do think that he wants to sort of continue to be a voice, an adult in the room if you will, that’s just sort of reminding these candidates that that this is a very big office and that the rhetoric should sort of match the importance of the office that these candidates seek. And I think that he’s hoping to do that tomorrow.”
Whether he intends to get into the race, or just wants to spank Trump, or just wants to unify everybody except Trump — either way, I don’t think Romney has much stock with Republican voters. You can already hear Trump saying that Romney was a “loser” and why should anybody care.
Meanwhile, there’s Ben Carson, whose name was barely mentioned yesterday. Today, he says he has no path to victory, so he will not be in the debate tomorrow night:
Ben Carson told supporters on Wednesday afternoon that he doesn’t see a “path forward” for his GOP presidential campaign and will not attend the GOP debate Thursday night.He did not mention formally suspending his campaign in a statement, but will opt for a speech about his political future Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).