Romney announces he won't run in 2016

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney said Friday he was removing himself from consideration from the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Romney, 67, the 2012 Republican nominee and former governor of Massachusetts, announced his decision in two conference calls - one to a circle of advisers and one to a larger group of supporters.

In a statement, Romney said he believed he would win the Republican Party's nomination again.

"I've decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. I did not want to make it more difficult for someone else to emerge who may have a better chance of becoming the president."

He added, in the second call, "it is critical that America elect a conservative leader to become our next president," and that he would "do whatever I can" to help elect whoever is nominated.

His decision frees donations and volunteers that could gravitate to other potential presidential candidates.

Many Romney loyalists were reluctant to endorse any possible opponents until he clarified his plans, and others remained skeptical that Romney, symbolic of an image of the Republican Party as old and out-of-touch, would not be the ideal opponent for expected Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.

Romney remains deeply admired by much of his party, including its donors, and the decision not to run in primaries positions him as something of a king-maker within the party. It also establishes former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as the front-runner of candidates preferred by the party establishment.