Mitt Romney’s wife said Thursday they would be “absolutely” through with politics if her husband does not win the November 6 election.
“Absolutely, he will not run again,” Ann Romney told ABC talkshow “The View” when asked by the hosts if a loss to President Barack Obama would put an end to the Republican nominee’s political career. “Nor will I.”
Ann Romney has often spoken of her agonizing decision to accept her husband’s second run for president, after he came up short in the 2008 race.
“I have a hard time with it,” she said of the pressures of the campaign trail and the unceasing negativity of the ads that attack her husband’s record.
“I did not want to do this again. This was a very hard thing for me to decide to go forward again,” she added.
But she stressed that she believed her husband had compelling ideas and a message that resonated with Americans.
“I felt as though there was something my husband could offer this country that was uniquely his,” said Ann, who has been on the campaign trail for months with Romney and solo as his primary surrogate.
Ann Romney said she no longer watches television, particularly when she is in a political battleground state like Ohio or Virginia, because she does not want to see all the negative advertising blanketing the airwaves.
Both Romneys were meant to appear on the show together, but Mitt canceled, citing a scheduling conflict.
The candidate’s wife also emphatically stated her “pro-life” stance on the show, while defending her husband’s shift on abortion over the years.
Mitt Romney’s changed position has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks as the presidential race tightens and focuses more on women voters.
“The good news is I’m not running for office and I don’t have to say what I feel. But I am pro-life, I’m happy to say that,” Ann Romney said.
She said when her husband was governor of Massachusetts, he “governed, when he ran, as a pro-choice,” but that his position changed, particularly after he deliberated about whether to approve the use of embryos for stem-cell research.
“I think we all have to understand that this is an issue that is so tender, and there are people on both sides of the issue that have, with very good conscience, come with a different opinion,” she said.
The Washington Post reported it was revealed during Romney’s first presidential run that Ann Romney donated $150 to women’s health services provider Planned Parenthood in 1994, when Romney considered himself pro-choice.
In the 2012 race Mitt Romney has called for an end to government funding for Planned Parenthood, which conducts abortions as well as pre-cancer screening tests.
Ann Romney says no more campaigns if Mitt loses
