Any claim by Romney that he hasn't been running for president since at least 2002, if not earlier, is clearly balderdash. Read this 2007 New York Times article:
"...the 1994 defeat did not end the pull of his father’s ambitions. Three years later [1997], citing Steve Forbes as an example of a businessman-candidate, Mr. Romney mentioned to his brother that he was thinking of a run for the presidency."
The close of this article should also put serious fear into any true conservative. The GOP's "inevitable" nominee is a wolf in Mitt's clothing, who even if he wins the Presidency, will likely follow the disastrous course of Bush 41 rather than Reagan.
"Mitt Romney said he learned his political values from his father, pointing to the health insurance program he introduced in Massachusetts as something his pragmatic father would have favored. It provided private insurance for the poor by tapping taxpayer money set aside to cover their emergency room visits, winning bipartisan support.
“If you listen to what my opponents have to say — ‘Romney is just trying to move to the right to appeal to the right wing of the Republican Party’ — well, why is it that in the last months of my governorship that I helped push through a plan to help give health insurance to everybody in the state?” Mr. Romney said.
Expect more of the moderate side of Mitt Romney if he makes it to the general election, said Mr. Eyre, his friend and his father’s former aide. “I think you will say to yourself, ‘That looks a lot like George,’” Mr. Eyre said. “You are going to see a different part of Mitt than what we see now and, frankly, I think it will come to him more naturally.”"
