Mitt Romney officially enters 2012 race

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney formally declared his candidacy today with sharp accusations against President Obama’s handling of the economy among other things.

Report from WVBR:

Mitt Romney announced today that he will be running for president in 2012. This makes him one of the major candidates to have announced his running for the Republican nomination, along with ex-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

As many major players in the GOP, such as Mike Huckabee, Gov. Mitch Daniels, Gov. Haley Barbour, and Donald Trump, announced they would not be running, it seemed as if Newt Gingrich would be the only serious candidate left to run against Obama in 2012. With Obama looking stronger now getting closer to the race, it certainly seemed as if nobody wanted to step up and face off against the president. While some candidates who are less popular in the polls have announced their running (Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, and Gary Johnson who spoke with WVBR’s Kyle Scott last year), many candidates, some of whom would be considered frontrunners, are still undecided, including the most conservative members of the party, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum.

A past poll cited that 44% of GOP members would never vote for Romney, but now with many major candidates either undecided or not running, that number may change. It seems as of now that the true race will be between Romney and Gingrich, followed by some firm support for Ron Paul, and a possibility of Palin, Bachmann, and Santorum also being thrown in, which should prove to be an interesting race.

While Romney attempted to capture the media spotlight, it appears another prospective candidate was in his backyard stealing it. Sarah Palin was also in Massachusetts today which she says was purely coincidental. Either way, Romney’s entrance was inevitable and I am guessing this means we will definitely see him on June 13th at the New Hampshire primary debate.

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Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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