As the New York primary drew closer, Mitt Romney had a chit in his pocket that he could cash in at the right moment.

Rep. Peter King, the Long Island Republican who had been openly skeptical of Romney’s candidacy, quietly approached the campaign and offered to make an endorsement. It could be rolled out whenever it would be most advantageous to the Romney team.

That call never came.

In a video interview, the congressman tells Howard Kurtz exclusively Romney never acted on the endorsement offer before Tuesday’s primary. “They didn’t use it, so be it,” King said. “Who knows why?”

King makes clear in the interview that his constituents aren’t excited about Romney. “Mitt Romney has not connected on a visceral level at all,” he says. And that, in King’s view, the presumptive nominee has plenty of work to do.