With his White House dreams dashed, one can only begin to speculate what is going on inside of Mitt Romney’s head right now. Romney has spent the past six years running for president, people are wondering, what is next for Mitt?

His career as a candidate seems to be over, which is not surprising considering that his only successful run for public office was a bid for Massachusetts governor in 2002. Romney also lost two subsequent presidential races, not even receiving his party’s nomination in 2008. Without a real “front man” political career ahead of him there are still options for him in the political arena.

Since Romney is a major figure in the Republican Party, he could assume a steady place as a party elder; similar to Newt Gingrich who has been around since the 1970s. Romney may be just the man to revamp the Republican party assuming that his more moderate views could sway party policy a little bit closer to the middle of the spectrum. Romney’s level of exposure rivals most figureheads in the Republican party anyway (does anybody know who Reince Priebus even is?) so he could indeed be just the person to help spell out the party’s policies for years to come. There are, however, other roads to travel down, possibly ones with a little bit more (Bain) capital.

As many great failed candidates do, Romney could always cash in on his experience and write a book. People are always looking to see how the loser feels. If America loves anything more than an underdog, it’s a loser. Al Gore, the Democratic nominee in from the 2000 election, for example, has written a couple books and Ross Perot, the Texan Independent who rattled the 1992 election has recently signed a deal with Simon and Schuster to sell his memoirs. Romney is, however, a man with an enormous amount of public support (considering that 57 million people voted for him to run the country) as well as a substantial amount of wealth, so a book may come later in his life, but the arena of philanthropy may suit him quite well.

It’s not unheard of for wealthy politicians to dedicate themselves to a cause; in fact it appears to be an unwritten prerequisite. Once again, Al Gore seems to be a fitting example for after his loss in 2000, Gore went on to found numerous non-profit organizations such as the Alliance for Climate Protection. Now some might say that Romney may not be a fitting philanthropist, but considering the number of awards that Gore has won for his work, such as the Nobel Peace Prize, a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album, a Primetime Emmy and finishing runner up for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Romney may want to consider this route if he wishes remain relevant.

However, as of now, Romney has agreed to return to the Board of Directors at Marriot International. This is the first job announcement that Romney has made since his loss to President Obama but everything else that analysts and journalists are predicting for Romney’s future at this point is merely speculation. At the moment, the only certainty about the end of Romney’s political career is that he will be rejoining the Board of Directors at Marriot International, but it seems that there is no limit to his possible aspirations, except the presidency of course.