“Well, the main development — I can hold this up, I got sent this in the mail, the Ryan-Rubio 2012 button, which shows huge grassroots support for this effort here,” Kristol said. “People all over the country having these buttons produced at their own expense. ‘R-R’ is good for Republicans. Ronald Reagan, Ryan-Rubio. [Weekly Standard writer] Steve [Hayes] has done a lot of reporting on this. Paul Ryan is thinking of running. I think it is 50-50. I think we’ll know in a week. If I had to bet, I bet that he would run. I also think that if he doesn’t run, Chris Christie may run. I don’t think the current field is likely, it could be — but I don’t think it’s likely to be the final field.”

Former Democratic Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh questioned Kristol’s claim, suggesting it was already getting late for such a run. He also added that a Ryan candidacy would make the race a referendum on entitlement reform.