The daughter of former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain has a clear and crisp message for Mitt Romney: don’t run again.
Drawing on her family’s experience of supporting her father’s presidential aspirations twice — as the former Massachusetts governor’s family already has for him — Meghan McCain urged Romney in an opinion piece published Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune not to take a third stab at the presidency.
“When I think about what they [the Romneys] might go through again, if their father runs a third time, I shudder,” McCain wrote, explaining that her family’s campaign experience was “equally exhilarating and dejecting.”
“I’m sure that’s true for the Romney family as well. So I’m perplexed as to why they are considering doing it all over again,” she wrote.
While Mitt Romney has said his wife Ann is supportive of the prospect of a third presidential run, Romney’s sons are reportedly split over whether their father should enter the fray. Romney began calling donors almost two weeks ago and on Friday publicly announced at an RNC convention that he is seriously considering a third run.
That’s likely because a presidential run is a grueling process for both the candidate and his or her family as the media looks to fully vet a potential president and rival campaigns look to dig up dirt to smear candidates and sometimes their families.
“Take it from someone who knows — being the direct spawn of a presidential nominee is arduous and excruciatingly public,” McCain wrote in the Tribune. “It’s an experience that will always hold a very special place in my heart, but I wouldn’t put myself or my family through it again for anything in the world. And it’s inconceivable to me that anyone else would either — especially after losing as your party’s most recent nominee.”
McCain recounts in the piece the smears she and her family faced and the mortifying impact of having her “hypothetical abortion discussed” in the media. And the campaign also took its toll on McCain’s schooling and personal life as her grades took a hit and her classmates and teachers began treating her differently.
And even after the “complete and total heartbreak” of her father’s loss as the GOP’s nominee in 2008, McCain said her father’s failed presidential bids remain a part of her life.
“Every job I have, every date I go on, every time someone recognizes my last name, people bring up my father’s campaign. It’s still, so many years later, a constant in my life,” McCain writes. “The Romney family may be looking for a fresh start, but it’s not something they’ll find on the campaign trail again.”