Romney definitely didn't scare anyone out of the race. The people who didn't run, didn't want Romney as the nominee and STILL don't.
I don't think that's exactly right. Without Romney, there would have been a gaping hole in the race where there should be an establishment party man who the big party donors can contribute their $ to (and who can then use that money to destroy his opponents, like Romney did). If folks like Christie really came as close to running as they seemed to, then the lack of Romney might have been enough to tip the balance in favor of running.
The establishment candidates would have been Jon Huntsman and Tim Pawlenty.
