Mitt Romney spoke to the winter meeting of the Republican National Convention at a reception on board the USS Midway in San Diego Friday night and neither confirmed nor denied that he would be running for president a third time, making mostly veiled references to the rumors.
"There’s some speculation that I might run for a position I've ran for before," he said. "Let me state unequivocally… that I have no intention of running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts."
The audience laughed, but then Romney turned to more serious matters, taking shots at his former rival’s handling of the world.
"I used to joke that President Obama didn't have a foreign policy, and that was a joke of course because he did a foreign policy … A foreign policy that was characterized by speaking loudly and carrying a small stick."
He added, "The results of the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama foreign policy have been devastating" and listed off hot-spots around the world from Paris to Syria to Yemen to Nigeria to Crimea to South America.
"Our party must stand for making the world safer, and our principles will do that, and we have to make that point loud and clear."
Making one more quip about the wide speculation that he will toss his hat into the 2016 ring, Romney said he gets asked all the time, "What does Ann think of this?"
"She says, 'I know people get better with experience,'" he said. "And Lord knows I have experience running for president."
Romney surprised many last week by telling former donors he was reconsidering his opposition to running again.