Romney for ... Senate? But It's Not Mitt the GOP is Hoping to Run

OUTSIDE BOSTON, MA -- After two years in the media spotlight as the hometown of a presidential candidate, many in Belmont were happy for "The Town of Homes" to revert back to its previous incarnation of a community of great schools and bad roads. 

But just when they thought they've seen the last "Romney" lawn sign taken down this past November, some in the state Republican party are trying to pull Belmont back into the center of the hoopla of the next big election.

With former US Senator Scott Brown declining to run for the US Senate seat now unoccupied with the resignation of John Kerry who was named the new Secretary of State, the Massachusetts GOP is seeking someone who could make a creditable challenger to either of the democrats – US Reps Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch – who have announced their candidacy.

With established Republicans such as former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and former state Sen. Richard Tisei saying they will not run for the seat, the GOP are beginning to look for candidates with some name recognition.

Enter the Romneys.

But in this run, the GOP is looking beyond Mitt, the former one-term governor and two-time presidential candidate and rather to his wife or son to jump into the race.

“I’ve had several people call me and ask about Ann Romney,” Ron Kaufman, a longtime friend and aide to the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 presidential candidate nominee, told the Boston Herald. 

“That would be a very interesting thing. I would certainly love her to think about something like that,” said House Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading).

But many believe that Ann Romney – who has never been a candidate other than for Belmont Town Meeting in the 1970s – would not consider a run for public office.

So some are floating the name of Mitt's eldest son, Tagg, a Greensbrook Way resident, as "launching a surprise Senate campaign. Tagg Romney was a close campaign adviser and surrogate for his father and is a successful businessman living in Belmont," wrote the Herald.