On Wednesday night, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney met in California with key team members from his failed 2012 presidential bid for a private dinner.
Even as Jeb Bush’s juggernaut operation continues to build critical steam, many Romney advisers continue to encourage him to enter the 2016 presidential fray.
“Talking to lots of people close to him, I know the idea is still alive and certainly there are many of us who think he’d be an outstanding president. But they will make a mistake if they think that his status allows him to wait for a long period of time. What Bush understands is that the advantage of having so-called front-runner status is that a lot of people will sign up early on,” revealed Vin Weber, former Romney adviser.
If Romney is truly considering a third bid for the White House, Bush’s actions in the last month have increased pressure and upped the timetable within which he must act to prevent being tagged with an ‘also-ran’ status.
Republican fundraiser Fred Malek detailed, “[Bush is] going to force an early decision on the part of others. People are going to have to commit earlier than they had expected, because the recruitment not only of donors but of organizational and political talent is going to be going at a pretty fast pace.”
But Ron Kaufman, former Romney adviser, insists Mitt has no presidential intentions, “He’s been consistent from Day One to make sure Republicans win in 2016. He is going to whatever he can to help and hopes someone out there catches fire. He’ll be out there the whole time helping.”
