I'm Not Running, Says Mittens

We won't have Mitt Romney to kick around any more. On Friday, after a three-week flirtation that sent the political world into a tizzy, he announced that he had decided it was best if he didn't run: 

First, I am convinced that with the help of the people on this call, we could win the nomination. Our finance calls made it clear that we would have enough funding to be more than competitive. With few exceptions, our field political leadership is ready and enthusiastic about a new race. And the reaction of Republican voters across the country was both surprising and heartening. I know that early poll numbers move up and down a great deal during a campaign, but we would have no doubt started in a strong position. One poll out just today shows me gaining support and leading the next closest contender by nearly two to one. I also am leading in all of the four early states. So I am convinced that we could win the nomination, but fully realize it would have been difficult test and a hard fight.

Cognitive dissonance alert: If he truly believed he could win, he'd be running. 

He also took a shot at Jeb Bush on his way out: 

I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee. In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.

I've updated my original candidate list. I moved Mittens to the Officially Not Running list and Jeb and Huck back to the Possible list. I deleted the Winking and Thinking About Running list, because pretty much everyone on the Possible list is winking and thinking about running to one degree or another.  

Possible Republican Candidates
Sam Brownback
Jeb Bush
Dr. Ben Carson
Chris Christie
Ted Cruz
Mike Huckabee
Bobby Jindall
John Kasich
Rand Paul
Mike Pence
Rick Perry
Marco Rubio
Rick Santorum
Rick Snyder
Scott Walker

Late Adds on December 22
Carly Fiorina
Lindsey Graham
George Pataki

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman (Dec 2)
Paul Ryan (Jan 12)
Mitt Romney (Jan 30)

Days until election day: 645