I had occasion to meet and chat with Mitt Romney at two separate holiday parties. His family were friends with friends of ours. He was incredibly nice, very well spoken, and clearly intelligent. I would describe him as genuine and while I don’t agree with many of his political views, he may be one of the last ‘old school’ republicans who you can disagree with, but respect him to some degree. Compared to what passes for right-wing politicians today, he’s downright moderate. This is, in my experience, typical for Massachusetts Republicans. Despite being a very blue state, we have a history of Republican governors who actually did well. Mitt is in that vein.
And no, I don’t think he’ll ever run again. He’s fed up with the modern GOP, and they have no use for him either.