Think Mitt Romney Might Be Running for President?

Mitt Romney constantly gets asked if he's running for president in 2012, which is a little presumptuous on the part of reporter-types.

Anyone who's been watching Romney knows that he's just engaging in the normal routine of any wholesome, patriotic, non-2012 presidential candidate. We're sure he has plenty of reasons for holding fundraisers, penning conservative editorials, writing a political book and selling off a few of his more embarrassing mansions.

But if he were running for president by some strange chance, his recent actions would have some healthy precedent in past presidential contenders. For example...

Action	Who This Recalls
Penning a new book	President Obama. In fact Romney may just recycle the title "Dreams From My Father," re-casting the role of Kenyan immigrant brought to America on an academic scholarship with a moneyed auto executive who bequeathed wealth and political connections upon his son.
Fleeing Massachusetts	John Kerry. We give Romney credit for having the good sense to flee to La Jolla, CA, as it is a part of the United States. Kerry, on the other hand, prefers to elope to 5-star European ski resorts. (But as far as utter hatred of the Bay State goes, Romney wins hands down.)
Submitting angry editorials to national newspapers	Tom Tancredo. We'll let you guess whether it was Romney or Tancredo who went off in the Washington Times about mandating the English language on the LPGA tour.
Selling off several of his mansions	John McCain. The 2008 election proved that if you're going to be president, you should at least know how many homes you own. For Romney, keeping it in the single digits should be enough.

Of course this is all purely academic, since Romney hasn't announced his candidacy yet, saying instead: ""At this stage, running again is way beyond the horizon."

For crying out loud, all the man did was re-start his political action committee 16 hours after the 2008 election results came in, okay? All you media types who want to read something into that are just digging for a story.