Inside Mitt's Post-Election Life: Ann's Tears, Boston Market

There are no bourbon-fueled benders, beards, or pity parties for the man who four weeks ago lost the White House, but Mitt Romney wakes up each day deprived perhaps for the first time in his life of any real sense of purpose, reports the Washington Post in a lengthy look at the candidate's post-election life. He wrestles with a gnawing boredom, reads voraciously about fiscal cliff negotiations in the news instead of leading the charge, and doles out half-hearted pranks. He's not bitter over the loss, friends say, but “is he disappointed? Of course he’s disappointed," says an adviser. "Mitt hates to lose." Some snippets from the Post's report:

• The past month has been particularly hard on Ann Romney, who friends say has been crying in private over the loss, having believed to the end that the White House was their destiny. She's trying to get back to riding her horses.
• Rather than the ornate Thanksgiving dinner one might have imagined, the Romneys ordered a takeout bird and all the trimmings from Boston Market. Sources say there were too many grandkids running around his La Jolla mansion to bother with cooking a dinner.
• Speaking of Romney's La Jolla digs: That massive renovation, complete with the infamous car elevator, has yet to begin.
• Romney isn't clear on his next steps, though he's entertaining Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative as a model. He reportedly has no interest in helping the GOP rebrand itself, but is helping campaign staffers land new jobs.
• Unlike Al Gore in 2000, "you won't see a heavyset, haggard Mitt," says a friend. He's keeping fit, and friends say a viral snapshot of him pumping gas just shows how he looks without gel.

Click for the Post's entire piece. (More Mitt Romney stories.)