"Draft Mitt" Was An Epic Fail

In the latest demonstration of an utter lack of organization from the GOP, a site designed to coax former candidate Mitt Romney into running for president for the third time in 2016 won't see a national launch. The Utah-based site "Draft Mitt" is apparently a distraction for Republicans, who have their sights set on midterm elections that could allow them to take control of the Senate.

Deseret News reported that the site, started by Utah State GOP Chairman James Evans, would detract from Romney's current role as a traveling Republican cheerleader for GOP U.S. Senate candidates. People from his former campaign team spoke against the site, deeming it "absolutely" a distraction. In an interview with Deseret News, Spencer Zwick, Romney's former national finance chairman, divorced the would-be candidate from anything to do with the site.

This organization has absolutely no bearing on Mitt Romney running for president. He says he's not running for president and nothing this organization can do will change that.

You hear that, Utah state GOP? There is nothing you can do. NOTHING. This is basically the equivalent of an unofficial band fan page that used to pop up on Geocities. Except with a better coders behind it.

DraftMitt.org allows voters to pledge support for the candidate by signing a petition begging him to run. As of this writing, the petition has just over 115,000 who "Believe in Mitt." The site also displays shareable social media memes comparing Romney to Ronald Reagan and unsuccessfully aspiring viral #mittmentum. Republicans are still failing SO hard at social media.

Look at those hands! They're like, "Plzzzzz #Mitt run for #prez" and he's like, "LOL, nope."

The national launch was scheduled earlier this month in South Carolina, but has been indefinitely tabled after Evans got a presumed stern talking to from Romney's insiders. Evans told Deseret News:

A national event with media and things like that could very well get in the way and that's not what we want to do. We have to be mindful and respectful of that and not get in the way of anything Gov. Romney is doing.

"Draft Mitt" is the Republican counter to "Ready For Hillary," the super PAC backing Clinton as the Democratic nominee for 2016. The site and PAC has already drummed up support from a slew of rich Democratic supporters.

Republicans are gong to need some real organization going into November's midterms if they want to take control of the Senate. The New York Times' Senate forecast puts the chances of a Republican takeover at 53 percent. They are by no means sitting comfortably for this race, and a sloppy moves like this one won't help get them there.

Image: Getty