“I knew how grueling the process was, and I felt that there may be others who could be more effective in actually winning and then getting America on course,” Romney told Balz.

“And I thought, for instance, if someone like Jeb Bush were to have run, that he might well be able to do what was necessary to get the country on track. I got into this out of a sense of obligation to the things I believed in and love for the country, but not because it was something I desperately wanted so that I could feel better about myself.”