Where are the files Romney assembled on 2012 VP shortlisters?

And that opposition research came from the candidates themselves as they divulged a great deal of personal information to Romney and his top campaign aides during the vice-presidential vetting process in 2012. Those candidates, many of them too new to federal office to run for president at the time, now stand as some of the most formidable competitors for the Republican nomination in 2016. If Romney decides to run, he’ll have an exhaustive understanding of his potential rivals’ weaknesses. If he decides not to run — Jeb Bush’s avowed interest diminishes the likelihood that Romney will try again — rival consultants think his aides might take that information to other campaigns.

Such a scenario requires the files to exist, though. Stuart Stevens, Romney’s senior strategist for the 2012 campaign, says that Rubio and others who made it onto the vice-presidential shortlist have no need to worry. “These were not files that were distributed, and it was handled with the utmost discretion, and they were not circulated,” Stevens tells National Review Online. Beth Myers, the Romney adviser who managed the vetting process, ran such a tight operation that not even he saw the files, he says.

Rubio concurs: “I thought they were extremely professional, and I have full confidence in the process they undertook. I thought it was a thorough process, and I was fully comfortable with it.”