Ann Romney's tears and other revelations from Mitt Romney's post-election life

(Image credit: Facebook.com/Mitt Romney)

last updated 8 January 2015

In the weeks after the presidential election, some observers have seen signs that Mitt Romney is taking his defeat pretty hard. For what it's worth, a photo surfaced of him pumping gas, in which his famously sculpted hair flopped loose in un-gelled, disheveled glory. Then there was the Facebook photo of him and his wife, Ann, in which it appeared that the teetotaler had just woken up from a well-deserved bender (or, alternatively, was just tired). There were the comments he made to his wealthiest donors, in which he blamed his defeat on "gifts" that President Obama had showered on minorities and women voters. The seemingly bitter response provoked rebukes — and even the suggestion of utter banishment — from his own party. However, Romney's associates say he's not bitter at all, even if his wife is profoundly disappointed and he himself is struggling to find ways to occupy his time, says Philip Rucker at The Washington Post:

By all accounts, the past month has been most difficult on Romney’s wife, Ann, who friends said believed up until the end that ascending to the White House was their destiny. They said she has been crying in private and trying to get back to riding her horses.