The Huffington Post has something of a scoop today (or they read their inbox from the PR Newswire?), so I guess Arianna is out a few crumbs to pay someone on her staff. Anyway, they got their hands on an advanced copy of the Washington Post’s Dan Balz’s upcoming book, Collision 2012, which I suppose will be a best seller in the Beltway and on Villager coffee tables, but not popular elsewhere.

One of the revealed nuggets (probably a one on the Bristol Stool Scale) presented is that Willard lost 10 out of 12 members of his family’s vote… when he polled them if he should run for Preznint again, after losing so ignominiously to Grandpa Walnuts in 2008.

He reveals that he didn’t vote for himself in his family poll, either. So I guess The Stench has something in common with us after all. Who knew?

None of this is news as his son The Prince Regent of Romneylandia (the Heir, not the 4 Spares) Tagg revealed in a news cycle earlier in the year that his dad was the most reluctant candidate in the history of politics or something. Which as Charlie Pierce points out (Hi Charlie!) is one of the funniest statements of the new century:

“Look, Willard Romney started running for president as soon as he gave up on his day-job here in the Commonwealth (God save it!). That was approximately half-past 2005. He didn’t stop until Nate Silver buried his ass last November. I spent half the campaign mocking the fairy tale about how he and Ann sat around the kitchen table in one of the manses and decided that, yes, only Mitt could save the country. Now, I am expected to believe this happy horsepucky about Mitt, The Reluctant Candidate? He continues to be the most singularly maladroit national politician I’ve ever seen. Even his obvious prevarication sounds like something he memorized 10 minutes ago.”

(HuffPo)