Mediaboss Marketing

TIME Politics 2016 Election Mitt Romney is seen in attendance as Charlie Baker was sworn in as the governor of Massachusetts at a ceremony inside the House Chamber at the State House on Jan. 8, 2015 in Boston. John TlumackiBoston Globe/Getty Images

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney sought to cast himself as a champion of the nations poor Friday, as he announced he is giving a third presidential campaign serious consideration.

Addressing the GOPs elite at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee aboard the U.S.S. Midway, Romney premiered a brand new stump speech, laying out the themes of his proto-campaign and for the party in the post-Obama era.

First, we have to make the world safer, Romney said. Second, we have to make sure and provide opportunity for all Americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in. And finally, we have to lift people out of poverty. If we communicate those three things effectively, the American people are going to be with usbe with our nominee and with our candidates across the country.

Romney received a warm welcome from the members of the RNC in his first appearance with them since his Nov. 2012 loss to President Barack Obama. Its nice to appear with friends like this, I gotta tell ya, he said over the clamor of applause as he took the stage.

In strikingly personal terms for the famously wooden candidate, Romney spoke about his service as a pastor in the Mormon Church helping the poor, saying of his wife, Ann, Shes seen me work with people who are very poor to help them get help. Romney aides said that should he formally announce he would be more comfortable showing his warmer private persona in public.

Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty in America than ever before, Romney said. People want to see rising wages, and they deserve them, he added.

He argued that conservative principles would best address the problem.

The only policies that will reach into the hearts of American people and pull people out of poverty and break the cycle of poverty are Republican principles, conservative principles. They include family formation, and education and good jobs and were going to bring them to the American people and finally end the scourge of poverty in this great land.

The focus on poverty reflected a significant change of tune for Romney, a multimillionaire private equity executive who famously told a group of donors that 47 percent of Americans would never vote for him because they are dependent on government and believe that they are victims. Romneys 2012 campaign even prevented his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, from incorporating a discussion of poverty into his stump speech.

See the original post:
Romney Seriously Considering 2016 Bid With Focus On Poverty