The autopsy of the 2012 campaign continues with Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America, from reporter Dan Balz of The Washington Post.
Balz’s book covers everything from Mitt Romney’s decision to run for president through the GOP candidate’s post-election reflections. Many of the most fascinating passages have to do with the Republican candidate.
Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post picks the seven best morsels in the book, including:
- Romney didn’t always want to run for president in 2012.
- He even considered ending the campaign before it was underway.
- Newt Gingrich was a serious concern for Romney.
- Romney was convinced the label “self-deportation” was not negative.
- The GOP tried (hard) to get New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to run.
- Christie saw his early endorsement of Romney as a “major prize.”
- Texas Gov. Rick Perry wasn’t “kicking himself” over his debate “oops” moment.
Even during the exploratory phase of Romney’s campaign, as early as May 2011, the eventual candidate had some serious doubts on running against President Obama. After a particularly scornful op-ed article about the Massachusetts health care bill, Romney told his oldest son Tagg that there is “no path to win the nomination.”
