Mitt Romney to update supporters on plans for 2016 campaign
By STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press
Jan 30, 2015 8:11 AM CST
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2015 file photo, former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss. Closing in on a decision about whether to again run for president, Mitt Romney is finding that several past major fundraisers and donors in key states have...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three weeks after unexpectedly saying he was considering another run for president, Mitt Romney plans to update supporters Friday about his plans for the 2016 campaign.

The Republican Party's 2012 nominee will host a conference call with supporters at 11 a.m. EST, according to an email from Romney obtained by The Associated Press. Romney will tell staff members about his plans a few minutes earlier.

The former governor of Massachusetts jumped back into the presidential discussion on Jan. 10, when he surprised a small group of former donors at a meeting in New York by telling them he was eyeing a third run for the White House.

In the days since, Romney has made calls to former fundraisers, staff and supporters, and given a few speeches in which he outlined his potential vision for another campaign. "I'm thinking about how I can help the country," he told hundreds of students Wednesday night at Mississippi State University.

In that speech, and what amounted to a campaign stop a few hours before at a barbeque restaurant with Mississippi State's football coach Dan Mullen in tow, Romney sounded every bit a politician preparing to run for president.

"We need to restore opportunity, particularly for the middle class," Romney said. "You deserve a job that can repay all you've spent and borrowed to go to college."

But as Romney has sounded out his former team about putting together a third national campaign, several of his past fundraisers have told him they plan to support former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016.

Several key former Romney donors told The Associated Press this week that in Bush they see someone who can successfully serve as president, as they believe Romney could. But they also think he has the personality and senior staff needed to win the White House, something Romney could not bring together in his two previous campaigns.

"I've got great respect for Gov. Romney, and I busted my buns for him," said Chicago investor Craig Duchossois, whose wife contributed $250,000 to a pro-Romney super PAC while he collected tens of thousands more for Romney's last campaign. "But I have turned the page."

Romney also lost one of his most trusted political advisers on Thursday when David Kochel joined Bush's team. Kochel, who led Romney's campaign in Iowa in 2008 and 2012, is in now line to play a senior role in Bush's campaign should he run.

Romney's inner circle was surprised to lose Kochel, whom a Bush spokesman called one of "the most respected strategists" in the country.