McConnell on Romney: ‘More the merrier’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to say Tuesday whether he thought Mitt Romney should make a third bid for the White House in 2016.

{mosads}But McConnell was more than clear that he didn’t want 2016 politics to undercut the Senate’s chances to make legislative progress over the next two years.

“I told all the people who think about running for president, the best day they’ll have is the day before they announce,” McConnell said with a tight-lipped smile, after being asked about Romney’s recent steps toward becoming a candidate again.

Still, McConnell also showed little enthusiasm for Romney to make another try for the White House, after falling short in 2008 and as the GOP nominee in 2012.

“I admire them all for their ambition. The more the merrier,” McConnell told reporters in a news conference at the Capitol, adding that it was a “completely open” race.

Other GOP lawmakers have suggested in recent days that Romney failed to make a compelling case to voters in 2012, when he famously knocked the “47 percent” of people who don’t pay income tax.

Romney helped fundraise for McConnell in 2014, when the Kentucky Republican fought off a challenge from Alison Lundergan Grimes. But McConnell has stressed that he’ll likely back his Kentucky colleague, Sen. Rand Paul, in the 2016 race, though the majority leader has said he probably won’t campaign for Paul in early primary states.

But while Washington already has its eyes on 2016, McConnell also stressed that voters would be looking for the White House and Congress to move past the gridlock of recent years. 

That’s why, McConnell said, President Obama and congressional leaders concentrated on areas of potential agreement during a Tuesday meeting.

“There’s always an election coming up in America. We’ve had one every two years, right on schedule, since 1788,” McConnell said.

“All that’s going to be interesting. I think we’re all going to watch it intensely,” McConnell added about 2016. “But in the meantime, we need to try to figure out the things we agree on and make some progress.”