WASHINGTON POST — GOP Establishment Panic: Calls to Draft Romney

This Article first appeared in the Washington Post:

Less than three months before the kick-off Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them.

Party leaders and donors fear nominating either man would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands.

[…]

In normal times, the way forward would be obvious. The wannabes would launch concerted campaigns, including television attack ads, against the front-runners. But even if the other candidates had a sense of what might work this year, it is unclear if it would ultimately accrue to their benefit. Trump’s counter-punches have been withering, while Carson’s appeal to the base is spiritual, not merely political. Even if someone was able to do significant damage to them, there’s no telling who their supporters would turn to, if anyone.

[…]

According to other Republicans, some in the party establishment are so desperate to change the dynamic that they are talking anew about drafting Romney — despite his insistence that he will not run again. Friends have mapped out a strategy for a late entry to pick up delegates and vie for the nomination in a convention fight, according to the Republicans, who were briefed on the talks, though Romney has shown no indication of reviving his interest.

The rest of the story can be read here.