TAMPA, Fla., July 20 (UPI) -- George W. Bush, the most recent Republican president, will not attend his party's national convention next month in Tampa, Fla., a spokesman said Friday.
"President Bush was grateful for the invitation to the Republican National Convention," Bush spokesman Freddy Ford said in an e-mail to the Washington publication Politico. "He supports Governor [Mitt] Romney and wants him to succeed. President Bush is confident that Mitt Romney will be a great president. But he's still enjoying his time off the political stage and respectfully declined the invitation to go to Tampa."