SALT LAKE CITY — Mitt Romney’s long journey in search of the presidency began on Christmas Eve in 2006, in Park City, Utah, as he and his family considered the burdens of a presidential bid. On Friday, Mr. Romney returned to where it all started, attending the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of “Mitt,” a 94-minute documentary chronicling both his 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
He was joined by his wife, Ann, and his five sons. Or as he might say, quoting “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” — one of his favorite films — “the whole gopher village” turned out for the red carpet affair.
After the screening, he sat down to chat about the experience of watching himself on the big screen, and the news of the day. Below is a condensed transcript of his comments.
On whether he would consider a third presidential run:
“Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. People are always gracious and say, ‘Oh, you should run again.’ I’m not running again. I will say this: It was a great experience. I loved it. It was just a fabulous thing to experience, and that’s the one thing in the film that I felt you can’t communicate — was just how honored you feel, what an extraordinary experience it is. But that being said, I loved it. But look, I want to make sure that we take the country in a different direction. I think that Chris Christie and Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, and the list goes on, have a much better chance of doing that, and so I will support one of them as they become the nominee.”
On Gov. Chris Christie’s recent political troubles, after it was revealed that lane closings in Fort Lee, N.J., that snarled traffic and emergency vehicles were spurred by political retribution:
“I think the bridge issue is behind him. I think he dealt with it in a very effective way, unlike other people who’ve been in a setting like that, and I’m thinking of the president. He took responsibility, he fired people who had let him down, and I think people will look back on this as being an example of how you handle something like this effectively. I think it showed him as a strong leader, a compassionate person, entirely open — stood in front of the American people and spoke for a couple of hours, took questions. I don’t think he’s hurt by this. I think it’s something which is one more element of his capability as a leader.”
On whether he thinks Mr. Christie can overcome his reputation as a bully:
“I think it’s far from me to characterize someone’s image, but I think people see him as a real straight shooter, who pulls no punches and tells it like it is, and I think the American people like that. And people see him as a man of candor, and that he’s able to be as tough as he needs to be, and I think they’d like to see in the president of the United States someone who can stand up to Congress when they’re not doing what they need to do, who can stand up to his own party and shout them down, who can stand up to Vladimir Putin. I think they want to see a strong leader, and I think Chris is at this stage seen as a very effective leader by the American people.”
On the political schadenfreude — including from some of his own donors and aides — surrounding the Christie scandal:
“Well, there will always be within a party people who backed one candidate versus people who backed another, and there will be factions in the party, and there’s always a little glee faction looking at the difficulty of the other faction. But one of the things that our party has to rely on to ever win is that when we choose a nominee, to all get behind them. And I’ve read some articles where people say we’ve got to get rid of the Republicans that are RINOs, we’ve got to get rid of the libertarians, we’ve got to get rid of this, the evangelicals. It’s like, no, no, no. We need everybody to come together. I mean, I went and campaigned for Ken Cuccinelli, and did a fund-raiser for Ken Cuccinelli. He’s not from my faction of the Republican Party, but you know what? When the nominee is chosen, we have got to come together, or we will never lead.”
On the direction of the Republican Party:
“A couple things. One, when you don’t have a president, you don’t have a leader of the party who can discipline all the factions and keep them in the corral, and that’s just the peril we have in a party without a president, and the Democrats had that in the past, and they had the same kind of splintering, and yet they came together when they got a president. We’ll do the same thing, hopefully, when we get a president. I also think that you’re seeing different voices express views about where to take the party, but I’m going to be comfortable in the process we use to select our nominees if it is carried out by a large number of people through primaries. I think the trend to move towards caucuses and conventions, whether to nominate senators, governors or presidential nominees, I think the move towards caucuses and conventions is a very bad one, and that our party should reward those states that spend the time and money to have primaries. I think you’ve got to involve the most number of people. And if the most number of people support a libertarian or someone who’s from one faction or another, that I may not be as aligned with, I’ll work for that person. But I want the nominees to be selected by the broadest number of people in primaries.”
On the prospect of an overhaul of the immigration system:
“Well, I want to see a Republican proposal. I would like our party to put forward a proposal, and how that’s done and who does it, I’m not sure. But I want to see — and maybe it’s Paul Ryan, who I have a lot of confidence in — step forward and say: ‘This is the Republican proposal. Not every Republican agrees with it, but we’ve got a solid number of leaders and so forth. This is our proposal.’ My guess is the president will say: ‘No, we don’t like it. I want to change that.’ But I want us to lead on immigration and have people understand that we have a positive immigration plan that deals with those who have come here illegally, that deals with the children of those who are here illegally, that deals with bringing in people of skill and experience.”
On what’s next for him:
“I will continue to work with the Republican Party to try to encourage primaries. That’s one. I will also help to work with candidates who I think have the best prospects of getting the country on the right track. Either raising money or campaigning or providing counsel and advice, I will stay involved. And I have shown up at events, supporting Ken Cuccinelli and others, and will continue to do that. I also get to do what every politician says when they get out of office, which is, I’m going to spend more time with my family. I actually do! I have a big family, and I spend a lot of time with them.”
On his 2012 campaign team:
“You know, I think I had a superb campaign team. And I know it’s always expected that if you lose, people point to the campaign team and say, ‘Gee, they didn’t do their job well.’ If you win, they’re all brilliant. And the team, in my view, did a superb job. I made some significant mistakes that they had to do their very best to try to clean up from, but they were nonetheless my mistakes, and I don’t blame them for my mistakes, of course. I think we ran a very good campaign. There were a number of events which, had they turned a little bit differently, there could have been a different outcome. And I look back without regrets and without saying, ‘Oh, I wish this member of the team had been different.’ No, I really like the team. And were I to be able to turn the clock back and be able to run again, I would choose the same people.”
On how the “Mitt” documentary seemed to capture a personal, funny and human version of Mr. Romney that didn’t always come through on the campaign trail:
“You know, that’s one of the great challenges, which is how do you communicate who you are in a campaign when you are not known or defined by the public, and when your opposition has as their goal to define you in the most unfavorable light? I don’t have a great answer to that. You run 30-second ads, and I don’t know how you could take an hour-and-a-half film and do 30-second clips and have people think it’s genuine or real. I would love to say to all Americans: ‘Each candidate is going to produce a film of an hour and a half. You’re going to watch one from each candidate, and then you’re going to vote!’
“I think it’s one of the challenges of modern politics, which is how do you communicate who the candidate is and what they really believe, in the short time period you have? And for me, the best opportunity was the debates, and I think I was in real trouble before the debates, and I think the debates helped me a lot.”
On what was the toughest scene in “Mitt” to watch:
“I think when I saw my granddaughter cry. You know, that touches me. But you know, I remember being there. I remember being 15 and thinking my dad was going to lose the election and being all emotional about it, you know, but for him, life goes on — he gave it his best shot.”
On whether he believes that all of his dire campaign trail predictions about the country under President Obama have come true:
“I think the challenges the country faces take a long time to pay out in a negative way. A nation on decline in certain ways will not reach the nadir of its course for a long period of time. The failure of our education system is going to take a long time to be recognized. The failure of an immigration system takes a long time. The deficit and the debt that we’re piling up — that will come back to bite us at some point. I can’t tell you when it happens, but I know it will happen. If you will, the maneuvering that Russia has made with regards to Syria, that is certainly something which I think we can recognize. The failures of Obamacare and its implementation, I think, people can recognize. The president’s promise that you can keep your insurance if you want it. That was not true then, it’s not true now, and that is something I think has been recognized.”
On what the Obama administration is doing well:
“The greatest surprise has probably been watching Senator Kerry. He’s working hard and making real efforts in tough places, and I hope he’s making progress. I believe he’s trying very hard to make very positive progress, and I tip my hat to Secretary of State Kerry. I do know, as Bibi Netanyahu said, which is no agreement is better than a bad agreement, so we’ll see how these agreements work out. But progress with Iran is encouraging, and the efforts in Israel are laudable.”
On whether his son Josh has any political aspirations in Utah:
“No, I don’t think in any near-term setting he’s likely to run. But frankly, that’s between him and his wife, and I don’t really know.”
On Barbara Bush’s recent comments that the country has had its fill of political dynasties and that she hopes her son Jeb Bush does not run for president:
“But Jeb Bush, I can say this: I think he would be an excellent candidate. I’d love to see him run for president. And I don’t think it’s because of a dynasty we would be inclined toward Jeb Bush. It’s because he was a great governor and an education governor and reached out to Hispanic voters with great success. I think he’d be a very effective nominee, and potentially a president. I like Jeb a lot.”
On Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls:
“Oh, I don’t have a top choice. I’m inclined to Jeb and Chris and Paul Ryan, of course, who I think the world of. Scott Walker is extraordinarily impressive. Marco Rubio. We’ve got a number of very, very good people. And part of it is, let them get on the stage and see how they work with one another and how they debate and how they go through the crucible of a campaign, and then we’ll be able to make that selection.”