Several people close to Jeb Bush said they felt he was now less inclined to endorse in the primary.

He is unlikely to opt against his father’s choice of Romney. Yet Bush has publicly warned the candidates to tone down hard-line rhetoric on illegal immigration, and Romney has used a particularly tough tone on this issue to attack rivals from the right.

Romney has told reporters in recent weeks that he had met with Bush to discuss immigration policy. The former Florida governor will co-host a summit in Miami for Hispanic conservatives in late January, just days before the state’s primary…

Bush’s silence in the primary and his relatives’ decisions could reflect a family strategy to exert influence and hedge its bets — leaving the one member of his generation who may yet find himself on a presidential ticket nominally neutral.