Mediaboss Marketing

By Tim Reid

SAN DIEGO Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:20am EST

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally with Republican candidate for the United States Senate Scott Brown at Gilchrist Metal Fabricating in Hudson, New Hampshire October 15, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Mitt Romney's declaration that he is considering a third shot at the White House after being a two-time Republican presidential loser was widely greeted with disdain at a national gathering of Republican activists on Thursday.

Romney, the Republican U.S. presidential nominee in 2012, told a meeting of donors in New York last week that he is considering another White House run in 2016. Romney lost to incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama in 2012, and lost the Republican presidential nominating race in 2008 to Senator John McCain.

If Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, does enter the 2016 presidential race, opposition to a possible third White House attempt is already widespread and deeply felt, according to interviews with a gathering of grassroots Republican party members where Romney is scheduled to speak on Friday night.

At the Republican National Committee winter meeting in San Diego, many of the roughly 300 activists in attendance said Romney had his chance. A third bid would also buck historical trends. Only one presidential candidate, Richard Nixon, lost a presidential race, as he did in 1960 to John F. Kennedy, to go on to win the White House in a later race. Nixon won the 1968 presidential election.

"Mitt Romney. He didn't run his campaign right against Obama. He flubbed it. Another Romney candidacy would be a complete disaster, and I don't think he'll even get there," said Bill Eastland, a Republican party member from Texas.

Should he choose to run in 2016, Romney will still be a formidable candidate, having maintained a network of wealthy donors and having learned lessons from two national presidential campaigns.

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Republican activists widely say Romney should sit out ...