Many of the Republican Party's major donors and bundlers aren't excited by the large field of candidates vying for the White House, and say they're holding out hope that Mitt Romney will change his mind and enter the GOP race.
"The guy was prophetic in what he saw," Dr. Greggory DeVore, who raised more than $1 million for Romney in 2012, told the
National Review.
But this time around, DeVore says, "I cannot commit a dime to anybody because I don't see a future."
DeVore, who has even put Romney 2016 bumper stickers on his car, said there are other top Romney donors who are holding back their donations because "the people we've put out are not the same caliber as a Mitt Romney. They're looking around and asking, 'Is there anybody else to believe in?' And the answer is no."
Former Wall Street investor Dave Van Slooten, who donated more than $50,000 to Romney, also said that after watching the first GOP debate, "I personally don't think any of them measure up to Mitt."
The fact that political outsiders Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson are leading the race also has supporters worrying that the GOP will head in to the Republican National Convention without a clear nominee and then turn to Romney to bail it out.
The outsiders' campaigns are also hurting those of more seasoned candidates like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who lost three top fundraisers in his home state this week because of personality conflicts.
In addition, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has already
cut back his paid staff to bare bones levels in the early primary states of Iowa and South Carolina.
Romney has made several blunders of his own, but supporters like Mike Hawkins, a California-based Romney bundler say none of the current candidates "have Mr. Romney's vision and capability and steady hand."
However, Romney likely wouldn't be the kind of establishment candidate his supporters expect, according to an opinion piece by
Bernie Quigley on Observer.com.
"Mr. Romney is not now and has never been exactly an "Eastern Establishment" candidate, an archetype which Bush and his famous political family form and fulfill," said Quigley.
"He brings a somewhat different political ethic and conservative moral base to the Republican Party, in my opinion, a heightened, seasoned and more mature sensibility and Republicans should be delighted to have him."
But the current conservative standard is killing Bush's chances, said Quigley.
"The rise of Mr. Trump brings a full repudiation of the Republican standard since the rise of the brothers Bush," the opinion piece said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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