What outcome wouldn't be embarrassing for Romney?

[Mister Mets]

Ramesh Ponoru had an interesting point on twitter: "Romney has sometimes lost but never been humiliated. A campaign now seems to me to run a non-trivial risk of that outcome."

If Romney runs again, how well does he need to do in order to avoid embarrassment?

[Mister Mets]

On one extreme, you could argue that it's embarassing for Romney if he doesn't leave the presidency with high approval ratings after two terms.

He could probably lose a close primary or a close general without much embarrassment. If he drops out of the race at any point, primary opponents would also have incentives to help him save face as they would want access to his connections and resources.