Mitt Romney is a busy guy these days. He still shows up for any number of public speaking events and keeps his hand in the political world, but he’s got plenty of other things going on. He’s involved in plenty of charitable causes, even if it means getting punched by Evander Holyfield. He really enjoys running, a habit he picked up from his father. And in his role as grandpa, he’s now up to 23 grandchildren to dote upon. At 69 years of age, after a lifetime of service in both the public and private sector, you’d think that he’s earned some time to relax, enjoy the fruits of his labors and generally enjoy life.

So why does Erick Erickson keep trying to get this guy to run for president yet again? (Politico)

Not only does Erick Erickson want Mitt Romney to restart a search for a third-party candidate to challenge Donald Trump, he also wants Romney to consider being that person.

The conservative blogger wrote for The Resurgent on Friday that he would “gladly work for a Romney Presidency given the choices between” Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and Trump.

Erickson, who has said he would never vote for Trump, opposed Romney during his previous presidential runs. On Wednesday, Yahoo News reported that Romney has ruled out an independent bid for president and is not trying to get any other Republicans to take up the mantle despite remaining hopeful for someone else to surface.

There are two things I would ask Erick (and the rest of his kindred) to consider for a moment. First of all… Mitt has done his time in the center ring at the circus and he’s successfully convinced me that he doesn’t want to do it again. He said he wasn’t running in January. He told Wolf Blitzer the same thing in February. He told pretty much everyone who would listen in March. How many times do we need to badger this guy until we can take no for an answer?

The second, and perhaps more salient point is the calendar. As I write this brief missive it is currently May 21st. In less than a fortnight it’s going to be June. The convention is in July. The deadline to get on the November ballot has already passed in Texas and by the time we start packing for Cleveland more than a dozen more will have passed with twice that many coming close on their heels. (Not to mention the fact that nobody has even begun gathering the nearly one million signatures you’d need across the country to pull it off.) Not to put this too harshly for Erick or anyone else who is still holding on like the last soldier in the machine gun nest as the enemy comes up the hill, but…

This. Thing. Is. Over.

I know you’re unhappy, disappointed and any other number of adjectives you’d care to tack on that sentence. And no, I’m not here to ask you to vote for Donald Trump. You’ve made your position clear. For some of your friends, like our colleague Ben Howe at RedState, there may even be some conservative votes cast for Hillary Clinton, regardless of the impending apocalypse that would deliver. (Ben tweeted #ImWithHer at one point, but that may have changed.) We get it. And that’s okay. Families have suffered greater splits than this in the past and still managed to live on the same ranch. From the last NBC national poll we’re up to roughly 90% of GOP voters already set to vote for the nominee, even if some arrived at the decision reluctantly. Win or lose, we’re lining up our pieces on the board and we’ll do our best to defeat Hillary Clinton even if we have to do it without you.

But can you leave poor Mitt alone? And while we’re on the subject, the biggest helping hand Hillary Clinton could possibly receive is some hopeless third party run in any of the swing states via a doomed candidate who is being propped up by some dead-enders. The curtain is rising on the final act of the play and it’s time to get serious. The polls are tightening already and we’re going to have one hell of a fight on our hands without worrying about one of our own soldiers poisoning the water supply. Once it’s all over, with victory or failure, we can all get together for a cold one and a cigar and sort things out.