Before Romney raised and then spent nearly $100 million to try and get elected president, including $42 million of his own money. All nonrefundable.

Before he won 11 states, 4.7 million votes and 272 delegates, which, if you're keeping score at home, works out to a little over $150,000 out of his own pocket per delegate.

Before he dropped out of the race when it was mathematically impossible for him to prevail and went on to help McCain raise another $20 million for his campaign, only to ultimately be snubbed as a vice president choice.

I don't care who you are, that's got to hurt. Those are a lot of defeats to absorb in a row.

Good men have trashed clubhouses and hotel rooms — and stopped talking to the dreaded press — when losing less.

But not Mitt Romney. In many ways, he looks fresher than he looked 19 months ago. Running has been good for him.

He refuses to make alibis. He doesn't blame bigotry due to his religion, or negative campaigning by his opponents.

"I think John McCain's successful campaign is why he won," he says.

"I know a couple of you would like to (still) vote for me," he tells Utah's delegates to the RNC. "Please don't do that. We need to demonstrate we're all behind the team."

In a race where winning means absolutely everything, where there is no such thing as a silver medal, it turns out losing may be Mitt Romney's finest feat.

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Lee Benson is filing columns daily from the Republican National Convention. You can e-mail him at benson@desnews.com.