MITT? – AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  The Romney 2016 buzz is back.  And maybe there's really some substance to it after all.  From Byron York at the Washington Examiner: 

Is Mitt Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination and lost in 2008, ran again and won the nomination but lost the general election in 2012, really thinking about running yet again for president in 2016? Many Republicans have simply assumed not. Romney has seemed to discourage such talk in media appearances, and there has been a general belief that after losing as the party's nominee, the 67 year-old Romney would return to private life for good.

That belief is wrong. Romney is talking with advisers, consulting with his family, keeping a close eye on the emerging '16 Republican field, and carefully weighing the pluses and minuses of another run. That doesn't mean he will decide to do it, but it does mean that Mitt 2016 is a real possibility.

Nearly all of Romney's 2012 circle of advisers, finance people, and close aides remains intact. Many developed an extraordinary loyalty to Romney, who, in turn, has kept in close touch with them. Romney talks to some of them quite frequently in conversations that cover daily news, foreign and domestic policy, Hillary Clinton, the Republican field -- everything that might touch on a 2016 campaign. "Virtually the entire advisory group that surrounded Mitt in 2012 are eager for him to run, almost to a man and a woman," says one plugged-in member of Romneyland.

And...

The key question for Romney, according to those who have talked to him, is whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush decides to run. Romney is said to believe that, other than himself, Bush is the only one of the current Republican field who could beat Hillary Clinton in a general election. If Bush jumps in the race, this line of thinking goes, Romney would not run. But if Bush stays out -- well, Romney's wife Ann raised more hopes in Romneyland during a conversation this week with Fox News' Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: One scenario out there, Mrs. Romney, is that Jeb Bush doesn't run after all, and your husband will size up the landscape and that a lot of his supporters, past and present, said, you have the name recognition, you have the Reagan example of the third time was the charm for him, and that it's been done before.

ROMNEY: Mm-hmm.

CAVUTO: And -- and that would be appealing.

ROMNEY: Well, we will see, won't we, Neil?

COMMENT:  Yes, we will see.  It seems to me there'd be a clear place for Romney if no other Republican breaks through and starts exciting the party.  The Republican field for 2016 is broad but not deep.  There's no Reagan, who brought a movement of his own.

But 2016 is also two years away.  That's about 20 lifetimes in politics.  Clearly, Hillary's intentions will influence the GOP field.  So will biology.  A potential candidate, and that includes Hillary, might have a health issue.  World events will influence.  The economy will certainly influence party choices.

Anyone who tries to predict at this point is nuts, or short of material.

September 25,  2014