I agree whole-heartedly with you about Romney's departure. He's been a breath of fresh air for MA. and he's leaving us in the lurch and stuck with the probable candidacy of that idiot Lt. gov.. Pundits bring Romney's name when they discuss possible Presidential candidates. Last night, Candy Crowley mentioned him on CNN. She said she'd been at a recent conference...perhaps in Florida...Edwards was there, also Romney, a few others. (Also said as at first she could go one on one in the planes with candidates, get to know them, but as the primaries go on, candidates grow more important and the people around them increase exponentially, making access harder.)
Romney's aiming higher than Beacon Hill, but he'll have to overcome a few obstacles, including the hated MA. tag, gun ownership and abortion flip-flops. Well, if Kerry got away with nuancing, why not Romney? (Dicey, though, he'll have to do some fancy tap-dancing.) Where oh where is the next Ronald Reagan? Caught a little of Fox's Beltway Boys this am, and was delighted to see Mort Kondrake slam Kerry, putting him in the category of 'stick a fork in him, he's done' (but too dumb to know it.)
One of Romney's dumber moves was to put Kerry Healey on his ticket in '02. The woman couldn't even win in her own local constituency for a State House seat prior to that. He would've been far better off if Jim Rappaport had been his running mate, Rappaport had $$ and a potential ability to grow the grassroots. Healey was nothing but another Jane Swift (if not worse, since at least Swift could win a legislative seat) with very little appeal, no experience, and a prime example of the moribund state of those that are "active" within the State GOP. If she is the nominee this year, she'll be crushed like a bug (unless Romney is counting on the stupidity of the MA 'Rat-leaning voters confusing Kerry Healey for John Kerry - who knows, that might net her a win !).
As far as I know, Rappaport isn't even anywhere on the radar screen for this election cycle (and it's rather hard to blame him).