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Ann Romney, the wife of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has denied he will make a third bid for the White House, amid reports his backers are pressing him to run in 2016.
Ann Romney told NBC News her family was “done done done”.
Mitt Romney, a businessman and ex-Massachusetts governor, lost to Barack Obama in 2012 and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in 2008.
The 2016 Republican field is expected to be wide open.
Ann Romney has denied Mitt Romney will make a new bid for the White House in 2016
Democrat Barack Obama is barred by term limits from running again. With the future direction of the Republican Party being hotly debated, some Republican donors are pushing Mitt Romney to consider another presidential run.
A recent opinion poll suggested Mitt Romney led the field including Congressman Paul Ryan, Senator Rand Paul, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, among others.
On October 14, Ann Romney denied the family was even weighing a run, in an interview promoting the launch of a new neurological disease centre at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston bearing her name.
Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative neurological disease, in 1998.
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Mitt Romney revealed today during his first interview since he lost US presidency that he believed in his heart he was going to win the election and go on to the White House, and that “it kills me” not to be president.
Former GOP candidate Mitt Romney, 65, said today in his first interview since losing the election that while he believed he was going to become commander-in-chief, early polling numbers spelled out trouble, and he began to have a “slow recognition” that Barack Obama would win once seeing that Florida was a close race.
In the interview with Fox News Sunday, Ann Romney, 64, also confirmed during the show that she was approached by ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, but turned it down, saying: “I would have loved to have done it…(but) I’m not really as flexible as I should be.”
The interview, led by Fox News’ Chris Wallace, was taped earlier this week, but aired Sunday morning.
It brushed upon Barack Obama’s second term, current events, and Mitt Romney’s newest grandchildren.
Mitt Romney reflected over his campaign, saying that he did not do a satisfactory job connecting with minority voters, and said that Republicans in general must strive to do better in appealing to black and Hispanic voters.
He later joked that he did better in his second run for the White House than he did the first time around – when he lost the 2008 nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain. Regardless of his success making it as the GOP nomination, he said he won’t run for a third time.
Mitt Romney compared the experience of running for the presidency to riding a roller coaster. He told Chris Wallace: “We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs.
“But the ride ends, and then you get off. And it’s not like, <<Oh, can’t we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life?>> It’s like, no, that ride’s over.”
Mitt Romney first interview since losing US election with Fox News Sunday
Mitt Romney’s wife Ann compared the experience to the service that the Romneys have carried out within the Mormon church.
“In our church, we’re used to serving and you know, you can be in a very high position, but you recognize you’re serving. And now all of a sudden, you’re released and you’re nobody. And we’re used to that. It’s like we came and stepped forward to serve.
“And you know, the other part of it was an amazing thing, and it was really quite a lot of energy and a lot of passion and a lot of – a lot of people around us and all of a sudden, it was nothing,” she said.
“But the good news is we like each other,” Ann Romney joked.
Sharing the next phase of their lives, the couple additionally took a moment to present their family’s latest additions after becoming grandparents to 20 children on Valentine’s Day.
Mitt and Ann Romney cradled their son Craig’s newborn twins before the cameras, one seen in a pink blanket and the other in blue.
The family has kept a low profile since Mitt Romney’s concession to President Barack Obama last November. The couple has been spotted doing ordinary things, such as going to see “Twilight” and, most recently, shopping for cereal at Target.
Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, lost to President Barack Obama by a margin of 332 to 206 electoral college votes.
He spent the month after the failed White House bid in solitude at his beachfront mansion in La Jolla, near San Diego, reflecting upon the campaign.
But almost four months on it is thought Mitt Romney is ready to return to public life and political debate.
Mitt Romney is also due to address the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington next month.
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Fashion designer Alfred Fiandaca, who was responsible for many of Ann Romney’s campaign outfits, has died at the age of 72.
Alfred Fiandaca – whose designs were favored by Ann Romney during the 2012 Presidential race – died Saturday of a major stroke in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He divided his time between Boston, New York and Palm Beach, and is survived by his daughter, son and spouse, Carl Bartels.
After founding his eponymous line in 1960, Alfred Fiandaca opened up his first shop in Boston, Massachusetts.
His tailored skirt suits and elegant dresses soon attracted the attention of political figures in Washington, among them Joan Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson.
Actresses Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn also wore his creations.
Ann Romney, 63, had been a supporter of his ever since her husband Mitt was governor of Massachusetts.
On the campaign trail, relatively unknown Alfred Fiandaca earned recognition for being the go-to designer for the Republican candidate’s wife.
Fashion designer Alfred Fiandaca, who was responsible for many of Ann Romney’s campaign outfits, has died at the age of 72
Ann Romney wore a crisp cream-colored skirt suit from his fall 2006 collection to the first presidential debate.
And the edgy black leather skirt suit she sported on the Jay Leno show was also one of his creations.
Although Alfred Fiandaca was a Democrat, he had no qualms about dressing the wife of the former Republican hopeful, both of whom he counted as friends.
In an interview with New York Magazine last year, Alfred Fiandaca’s rep described him as “apolitical”, noting that he had dressed just as many Democrats as Republicans.
Alfred Fiandaca’s designs are sold in boutiques in Boston and Palm Beach, as well as an atelier in Manhattan’s Garment District.
He was known among friends and in social circles in New York and Palm Beach for his outgoing and friendly demeanor.
A third-generation member of the garment trade, Alfred Fiandaca began cutting clothes when he was only nine.
His glamorous designs have earned him recognition in the art world as well as the fashion world.
In 2000, the Massachusetts College of Art presented an exhibition on Alfred Fiandaca’s forty years of work, as well as creating a scholarship in his name.
Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were pictured shopping at their local bulk warehouse Costco near their home in La Jolla, California on Tuesday.
The couple stocked up on bottled water, pretzels, fruit snacks, Dixie cups and paper towels. Mitt and Ann Romney also seemed to be preparing for Christmas as their carts had a few rolls of gift wrap and a toy car that will likely be a present for one of their 18 grandchildren.
Overlooking no details, they even remembered to pick up a box of Bisquik for pancakes on Christmas morning.
The Romney’s fondness for the discount membership club is no secret, as they frequently talked about their trips to Costco during the campaign trail.
Cynical political analysts cried foul, saying that the they were trying to use their mentions of the budget store as a way to help lessen the public perception that the former governor was out of touch with the “common man” because of his great wealth.
The family’s affinity for the store seems genuine, however, as Ann Romney repeatedly boasted that it was the easiest- and most fiscally responsible- way to feed her large family.
When the couple’s five sons, their wives and all of their children come over for dinner, the total number of Romneys at the various dinner tables can easily add up to 30 people.
Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were pictured shopping at their local bulk warehouse Costco near their home in La Jolla
During an interview on the Rachael Ray show during the campaign, Ann Romney told the celebrity chef how she always has her route mapped out before she goes in the store.
“Wholesale shops are big, you have to go with a game plan before you start,” she said at the time.
During that appearance, Ann Romney talked a great deal about how she buys the store’s produce- both fresh and frozen- and stocks up on desserts.
But the pictures from their Tuesday trip to the California store reveal that she and Mitt Romney focused more on the non-perishables this time.
It looks like in addition to picking up some Christmas presents for the kids, the couple may have also gotten a puffy black jacket for Mitt Romney, as one was seen hanging off the side of his cart.
He tried to blend in during the trip, and was dressed casually in khaki shorts, a navy athletic shirt a baseball cap and sneakers, but his black sunglasses inside the store may have been a bit conspicuous.
Ann seemed relaxed but made less of an effort to blend in with the masses as she accessorized her black leisurewear with a hot pink scarf.
The former presidential candidate has laid low ever since he lost the election, relaxing with his family in La Jolla, taking time out to see the latest edition of the Twilight saga and accompanying his grandchildren to Disneyland.
Mitt Romney briefly popped back up on the political radar when he had lunch with President Barack Obama in the White House last week, though he did not speak to reporters after the meeting and only one joint photo was released.
As of Monday, Mitt Romney officially has an income again, since he announced yesterday that he will be re-joining the board of directors of the hotel chain, Marriott.
Board members receive an annual salary of $60,000 as well as $110,000 in company stock as compensation for their efforts.
Mitt Romney served on the board of the company from 1993 to 2002 when he resigned to serve as governor of Massachusetts.
He re-joined the board in 2009 and resigned again in January 2011 as the campaign heated up with the seemingly-unending process of Republican primaries.
Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, has been one part of a travelling trio during her campaign trail in Florida this week.
Campaigning for Mitt Romney on a bus tour through the swing state, which is expected to play a key role in the upcoming presidential election, the 63-year-old was accompanied by her two grandsons, 6-year-old Parker and 4-year-old Miles.
Ann Romney tweeted: “Love having Parker and Miles with me on our bus tour. Here’s a pic of us having some fun on the @RomneyBus.”
As the matriarch of a family of 30, Ann Romney also appeared on an episode of The Rachel Ray Show earlier today, giving away her mass-shopping secrets.
She watched the show with both of her grandsons from their hotel suite in Florida, the boys relishing seeing their grandmother on the small screen.
On the show, Ann Romney revealed that for roughly $137.50, she says she can feed her five sons as well as their families, a total of 30 people, for just $4.50 a head.
Ann Romney credits this budget shopping-list to Costco, where she admitted she “always starts at”.
While filling a shopping cart up with spinach, raspberries, frozen cream puffs and the family’s staple, pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, Ann Romney said: “The great thing about frozen desserts, they’re always ready to go.”
She added: “Wholesale shops are big, you have to go with a game plan before you start.
“There are great deals on fresh produce… My other favorite thing, I have to say, is I never leave without raspberries and blueberries.”
Ann Romney is campaigning for her husband on a bus tour through the swing state with her two grandsons, Parker and Miles
Ann Romney added: “And with frozen cream puffs, you can personalize them by adding chocolate sauce and ice-cream.”
She also spoke about suffering from multiple sclerosis while raising a family.
Ann Romney said: “When I was first diagnosed with MS and my husband was taking care of me, he discovered rotisserie chicken.”
“Rotisserie chicken is every cooks best friend,” she said.
“You want to buy it at the end of your shopping so it doesn’t heat up the food that’s in the rest of your basket.”
The Romney’s buffet-style family dinners often consist of home-made creamed spinach, pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, honey-mustard dipping sauce, roasted butternut squash, frozen cream puffs with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
While also preparing Mitt Romney’s favorite dish, meatloaf cakes, on the show, she said: “Mitt is not a picky eater. He will eat anything you put in front of him.”
This isn’t the first time Ann Romney has endorsed Costco.
In August this year, Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked the Romneys about hearing that they have an “unhealthy attraction” to Costco.
“We both love Costco,” said Ann Romney.
“It’s got great produce,” agreed the former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate.
“She also got me one of these three-packs of shirts the other day from Costco. And they’re very nice shirts,” he added.
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Ann Romney cooled off on a Florida beach this weekend as her husband got fired up for the final presidential debate.
As Mitt Romney indulged in a beach football game between his staffers and invited reporters, Ann Romney took advantage of the Florida sunshine in her fetching floral suit, going for a swim with her family at Delray Beach.
Ann Romney, 63, looked glamorous in the brightly-colored, halterneck suit with matching sarong.
She splashed around in the water with her sons, their wives and her grandchildren, before she grabbed a towel and headed for a sun lounger.
Hours before they hit the beach, Mitt Romney and wife Ann were pictured attending church in Boca Raton on Sunday where she grabbed attention in a scarlet dress with full-length zip and chunky jewellery.
The latest poll has Mitt Romney neck-and-neck with Barack Obama as they each have 47% of likely voters ahead of their debate this evening.
Today’s face-off represents one of the last major opportunities for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to capture the attention of millions of voters – especially that small but sought-after group who haven’t yet made up their minds.
And while the former Massachusetts governor was relaxing on the beach, Barack Obama was holed up in Camp David in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains.
The President had arrived on Friday to prep for the debate, a 90-minute encounter focused on international affairs.
First Lady Michelle Obama and Ann Romney both appeared to be going after the women’s vote at the second presidential debate with an obvious fashion choice.
Michelle Obama wore a coat-style, hot pink dress while Ann Romney wore a shift with capped sleeves in exactly the same shade.
The wives of the presidential candidates took their seats as their husbands appeared on stage at Hofstra University in New York on Tuesday.
Twitter users suggested that both wives had chosen the color to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
While Ann Romney wore a necklace made of several strands of glass beads, the First Lady favored a single row of pearls.
Michelle Obama and Ann Romney wear identical hot pink outfits at presidential debate
Barack Obama’s biggest task last night in the second presidential debate was to woo back “waitress moms” so crucial to his re-election, after a poll showed Mitt Romney has stole their votes in the first showdown and they are now neck and neck among women voters.
According to a Gallup/USA Today poll of 12 swing states, Mitt Romney leads Barack Obama by 12 points among men.
It is well-known that The Obamas have a well-documented relationship with Oprah Winfrey, but now Mitt and Ann Romney have opened up to the chat show host for the first time.
The Republican power couple welcomed the media mogul into their roomy New Hampshire holiday home on Lake Winnipesaukee, to talk about family, religion, food and, of course, politics.
Casually dressed in jeans, with the top button of his shirt undone, Mitt Romney even took it upon himself to pack Oprah Winfrey a doggie bag for the road, as they finished off in the kitchen.
“Ann makes these little meatloaf cakes with sweet sauce on top.
“Meatloaf cakes and mashed potatoes. Best thing in the world,” he exclaimed during the interview, which is included in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.
Although Oprah Winfrey has seen President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at the White House on several occasions, it was the first time she had met with Mitt and Ann Romney.
And it seems that she was taken with the “strong family vibe” created by the duo, adding that “cute little kids just seemed to keep coming out of every nook and corner” during her visit.
As well as Mitt Romney revealing his favorite dishes, he also addressed a number of meatier topics.
Asked at what point, did he know that he wanted to be president, he replied: “Not any time during my youth.”
Adding: “As a little boy I wanted to be a policeman. And then as I got older and I saw my dad in the car business, an automobile executive.”
But now aged 65, Mitt Romney remains determined to claim victory in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
He told Oprah Winfrey: “It do believe I’m going to win.
“I think in the debates we’ll be able to get down to, what do you believe in, how can we help the country? And I think when we do that, we’ll end up winning.”
Meanwhile Ann Romney, who is a mother-of-five and grandmother to 18, stayed focused on the subject of family and her 14-year battle with multiple sclerosis.
She also revealed that despite making regular small-screen appearances, she does not watch television anymore, because she “just can’t deal with it, if I’m going to have the calmness and peace that I need to have.”
Oprah Winfrey also interviewed Barack and Michelle Obama at the Green Room in the White House, for the same issue of her glossy publication.
Describing his vision for the world Barack Obama, who dressed in a suit and tie for the meeting, said: “Michelle accuses me of being a congenital optimist, but it’s true. I think people are capable of great evil but are fundamentally good.
“I want America to continue to be on the side of expanding justice and freedom and opportunity.”
Meanwhile Michelle Obama revealed that she often finds it difficult to discuss things with her husband, as he has so many other things on his mind.
Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey: ”I’m stockpiling a list of issues that I’d like to discuss with him in 2016.”
Ann Romney, wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has painted a loving portrait of her husband at the Republican convention, on the day he became the party’s White House nominee.
In her prime-time speech, Ann Romney spoke of her “real marriage” to a steadfast partner and father.
Correspondents say the address aimed to show the human side of the Republican, who lags behind President Barack Obama in likeability ratings.
Mitt Romney will challenge the Democratic president in November’s elections.
Opinion polls show Barack Obama neck and neck with Mitt Romney, who will deliver his big speech to the convention on Thursday.
Highlighting Mitt Romney’s image problem, a new opinion poll suggests the former Massachusetts governor’s favorability rating is the lowest of any major party nominee since Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
Ann Romney, 63, told the audience she wanted to “talk to you from my heart about our hearts”, saying of her husband, “you really should get to know him”.
She talked about the way her husband helped her deal with multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.
“I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a <<storybook marriage>>,” she said.
“Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters on MS [multiple sclerosis] or breast cancer.
“A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage.”
Ann Romney has painted a loving portrait of her husband Mitt Romney at the Republican convention
She addressed criticism from Democrats over her husband’s successful private equity career.
“Mitt will be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world.
“But as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you Mitt Romney was not handed success. He built it.”
Ann Romney ended by pledging: “This man will not fail. This man will not let us down.
“He will take us to a better place, just as he took me home safely from that dance.”
Mitt Romney, 65, appeared on stage and kissed his wife as she concluded her remarks, to a standing ovation from the audience.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie delivered the keynote address after Ann Romney.
“Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to put us back on the path to growth and create good paying private sector jobs again in America,” he said.
The speeches followed a roll-call of party delegates and a lively voice poll in which state delegates called out their team’s allocation of votes.
Altogether, Mitt Romney secured 2,061 votes, bringing him comfortably over the crucial 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan was also given the Republican party’s official stamp of approval on Tuesday.
Speakers attacked Barack Obama, with House Speaker John Boehner saying “his record is as shallow as his rhetoric”.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said the president has “never run a company. He hasn’t even run a garage sale or seen the inside of a lemonade stand.”
The convention also approved its party platform – a policy agenda that calls for tax cuts to revive the economy, repealing and replacing a healthcare law passed by Barack Obama, and an end to abortion.
Recent opinion polls have indicated that voters view the economy and unemployment, which is stuck at 8.3%, as top priorities.
The platform also calls for the overturning of measures passed to regulate Wall Street in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse.
This is Mitt Romney’s second run for the White House, after an unsuccessful bid in 2008.
President Obama’s re-nomination will be confirmed next week at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This year’s convention got off to a late start when Monday’s programme was postponed amid concerns that Hurricane Isaac might disrupt the proceedings in Tampa.
But the category one hurricane missed Tampa, instead making landfall in southern Louisiana on Tuesday evening.
It comes almost seven years to the day since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
Key convention speeches
Tuesday: Ann Romney, House Speaker John Boehner, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former US senator Rick Santorum, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
Wednesday: New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Arizona Senator John McCain, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan
Thursday: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, presidential candidate Mitt Romney
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