Two takeaways from Romney's latest

Mitt Romney's presidential ambitions are finally over.

By this point, it was no surprise he dropped out. Political scientist Richard Skinner nailed it:

Republican party actors, including many who had been with him in 2012, strongly signaled to Romney that they had little use for him this time around, as many observers expected. He could have continued anyway, but with a much better chance of humiliation than of winning the presidency. He sensibly decided to fold.

Two takeaways from this episode:

First, the Republican field is much stronger than it was in 2012 and 2008. In fact, it might be the strongest group of Republican candidates since 1980. That doesn't mean the eventual nominee will necessarily be better than other recent nominees! The Democrats will face one candidate, not an entire field. But the strong field matters a lot right now.

Second, this is further proof that winnowing works. Yes, there were 19 or more Republican candidates in January 2013, but there won't be that many by the time voters get involved in Iowa, and only a handful, at best, will survive much beyond that. Republicans, in particular, have been very effective at persuading losing candidates to drop out during the year before the election.

One more thing. Just to be clear: Romney didn't consider whether to run and then decided against it. He ran for president for 2016. He tried. Failed. Dropped out.

No shame in that, but there's also no reason for reporters to take seriously the fiction that Romney was only considering a campaign.

Jonathan Bernstein
Bloomberg News
(TNS)

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Jonathan Bernstein, as a politicial scientist and author, is a Bloomberg View columnist.

Previously:

• 01/20/14: Ernst draws short straw with Obama response
• 01/16/14: Romney is the only one who thinks he's Reagan
• 01/13/14: How GOP underdogs could very well take on their establishment