Mitt Romney 2016? Presidential Candidate Remains Top Republican Pick

Despite having lost to President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney returned to politics this year, emerging as one of the Republican Party’s top presidential picks.

“There is a movement afoot," GOP Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead told the Washington Post when asked if Romney 2016 is a possibility. "I’d tell him, ‘Governor Romney, people here in Wyoming and around the country would encourage you to take another look at it.’”

Last week, a CNN/ORC poll indicated if there were a re-do of the 2012 presidential election, Romney would win with 53 percent of the vote but in a matchup against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he would lose by double digits. While a poll from Quinnipiac University did not include Romney, it indicated Clinton is the favorite in 2016 witht 58 percent in the primary vote for the Democratic nomination and a 7- to 9-percentage-point edge on Republicans.

Some even said Romney's new status is a direct result of Obama’s unpopularity, coupled with the fact Romney turned out to be right on many of the issues he raised in 2012 and with which Obama is grappling. One example, is Russia. In 2012, Romney said Russia would become America’s enemy No. 1 and two years later, America agrees with him.

“Democrats don’t want to be associated with Barack Obama right now, but Republicans are dying to be associated with Mitt Romney,” Spencer Zwick, a longtime Romney confidant who chaired his national finance committee, told the Washington Post. “Candidates, campaigns and donors in competitive races are calling saying, ‘Can we get Mitt here?’ They say, ‘We’ve looked at the polling, and Mitt Romney moves the needle for us.’ That’s somewhat unexpected for someone who lost the election.”

However, losing might actually be helping him in this situation. Columnist Matt K. Lewis characterized Romney in The Week as "the scrappy underdog -- the loser who's out to redeem himself -- [making him] a more attractive Mitt.”

No doubt the photos shared on social media of him and his family swimming, hiking and rock climbing in what looks like the most wholesome American summer vacation ever have helped boost his image.

While no official declaration of his candidacy has been made, Romney’s campaign tour is booked solid, trying to insure Republicans win the majority in the Senate in the November elections. In August, Romney will campaign for GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates in West Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas, his aids told the Post.