"If Jeb Bush were in this race, he would be the front runner right now"

“He would be the one person who would be for the serious establishment types, but that some of the more conservative types would also I think be happy with him,” he said. “And so it’s — one of the things that interests me is what happens if Mitt Romney stumbles? Then where does the party go, because really there’s option A and no option B, practically. And so that would just create a crisis in the party. And then you really would see people rallying around somebody who is not in the race right now.”

On NPR’s “All Things Considered,” broadcast Friday, Brooks doubled down on his Bush hypothesis.

“If Jeb Bush were in this race, he would be the front runner right now even with the Bush last name,” Brooks said. “And I bet he’s kicking himself because he would be the guy who could unify some of the tea party and some of the Romney folks. We’re sort of in the talk show phase of this race. People are just looking for the most entertaining, most interesting person. And Gingrich was bound to get his moment. I think it’s going to be a pretty long moment because they’ve run out of all the alternatives.”