• LAMB: : When you decided not to run again for governor, how much did your thought of running for president enter into that discussion?

• ROMNEY: Well, there is no question but that part of what was going through my mind was that I wanted to have the option open of considering a run for national office. That’s not a decision I will make for quite a while.

But I certainly would not think it would be appropriate to go into a race and to give your all to campaign for governor and then in the January inauguration time period, to stand up and say, well, I have now decided to go for a national office, and I’m going to go full-time campaigning for president.

That wouldn’t be honest with the voters. And so it was an option I wanted to keep open and therefore I couldn’t run. I also recognized that the items that I wanted to see accomplished either had gotten done or would be able to be gotten done in my last year.

And then some things, of course, I would never get through, no matter how many years I stayed and battled away, I would never get them through. So I haven’t by any means gotten everything done I would like to get done, but I think after four years you can get done most of what you are going to be able to do.

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