Mitt Romney’s Coronation Is off to a Rocky Start

When Orrin Hatch recruited Mitt Romney to succeed him in the U.S. Senate, it looked like a done deal. You had a prominent national figure with business and governmental experience, major name recognition, with some distant ties to Utah, and a Mormon. Quite a package. Until yesterday:

Not only did Romney not secure the 60% needed to avoid a primary, he came in second.

Saturday’s defeat was a surprising turn for Romney, whose national profile far exceeds Kennedy’s and who could count on a strong donor network and the endorsement of prominent Republicans, including Hatch and President Trump.

When he made his bid official, Romney was considered a virtual lock for the GOP nomination and was not expected to face a serious primary challenger.

Kennedy was first elected to the Utah state House in 2012.

I’m not a Mitt Romney fan (do you doubt my word, check my coverage of him in the 2012 primary). I think that if you believe Romney cares about either the GOP or conservatism should look at the state of the Massachusetts GOP before and after Romney’s tenure as governor. I don’t think he’d be a bad senator but he’s clearly positioning himself to be a gadfly for the administration as though there are not enough of those. I think Romney is much more likely to end up caucusing with Susan Collins than he is with Mike Lee.

This caucus vote is a minor humiliation to Romney, who showed in 2012 that he is adept at accepting public humiliation. He fundraising machine is going to dominate the race and unless there is a major “please. not Romney” movement in Utah, he will win the primary. And he will steamroller his opponent in November. If he has a bit of humility and introspection, he might want to ask himself why yesterday happened. But I suspect Romney will treat it as an act of lèse majesté by the underclasses and ignore it.

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