MITT IS BACK – AT 12:38 P.M. ET:  Mitt Romney will be announcing his candidacy for the Senate seat in Utah being vacated by Orrin Hatch.   He is delaying his announcement out of respect for yesterday's Florida shootings.  From The Politico:

Mitt Romney is poised to launch his political comeback — but don’t expect him to talk much about his onetime nemesis, President Donald Trump.

The 2012 GOP nominee had planned to announce his campaign for Utah Senate with a Thursday web video, bringing to an end months of speculation about his intentions and instantly becoming the highest-profile Republican on the ballot this year. On late Wednesday, Romney postponed the rollout in light of the deadly school shooting in South Florida.

When he goes forward, Romney intends to carefully skirt questions about how he’ll deal with the president and what could be in store for his future, amid speculation that he’s already plotting a role in leadership or even another campaign for the White House.

Instead, Romney plans to keep it hyperlocal, presenting himself as someone who will tend to the state’s needs even though his election is essentially a foregone conclusion, according to several people who’ve spoken to him in recent weeks. It’s an approach other big-name figures who’ve run for Senate have employed, such as Hillary Clinton and Al Franken: Don’t appear to be taking anything for granted or coasting on celebrity.

Think more meet-and-greets with voters, a largely Utah-based campaign team, fewer TV commercials, and less give-and-take with national reporters.

In short, the 2018 Romney Senate campaign will look nothing like his 2012 presidential bid.

COMMENT:  He will be an instant celebrity, but knows enough not to throw his weight around in the Senate, which is a very traditional body.

Look, you never know.  This is a second political life.  Nixon became president eight years after he was defeated for the same office by John F. Kennedy.  Reagan tried for the nomination in 1976 and fell short.  He was elected president four years later.

Mitt's relationship with Trump will be studied from the first moment the new senator arrives in Washington.  If I were Trump, I'd recall the old mantra from organized crime, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

February 15,   2018