Mitt Romney Keeps Using This Line From 'Dumb And Dumber' To Explain Whether He'll Run Again
Romney's new line, when asked about putting his name in the 2016 race, is referencing a scene from "Dumb and Dumber" in which Jim Carrey's character gets rejected by Lauren Holly's character before she tells him there's a one-in-a-million chance they end up together.
"So, Jim Carrey says, 'You're telling me a chance,'" Romney told The New York Times' Mark Leibovich in an extensive profile published Tuesday.
Leibovich followed up, of course, by asking if there is a chance.
"I have nothing to add to the story," Romney said, adding, "We've got a lot of people looking at the race," and, "We'll see what happens."
Speculation about a potential third Romney run has been building over the past few months, and the Washington Examiner's Byron York added fuel to the fire late last week when he reported that the chatter is "for real." According to York, Romney's inner circle from the 2012 campaign wants him to run again - and he has pointedly left the door open.
Ann Romney, Mitt's wife, recently told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that, "at this point, Mitt and I are not making plans." But she also didn't firmly close the door on a potential third run. She also suggested a possible obstacle would be removed if former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush decided not to run.
Here's the transcript:
CAVUTO: When you say not making plans, things have a way of making the plans for you.
One scenario out there, Mrs. Romney, is that Jeb Bush doesn't run after all, and your husband has sized up the landscape and that a lot of his supporters, past and present, said, you have the name recognition, you have the Reagan example of the third time was the charm for him, and that it's been done before.
ROMNEY: Mm-hmm.
CAVUTO: And - and that would be appealing.
ROMNEY: Well, we will see, won't we, Neil?
I think Jeb probably will end up running, myself. I think, you know, he - people probably are looking at it, that he's probably looking at it very carefully right now.
CAVUTO: But why would his entrance in the race matter to - to your supporters or not?
ROMNEY: Well, I think, you know, he would draw on a very similar base that we would draw on.
Multiple polls have shown that Romney would have large leads in early primary states at this point if he put his name in the field.