“Leave it to Romney to disappoint conservatives to the bitter end,” added Steve Deace, the conservative radio host who sometimes referred to Romney 2016 as “Zomney.” “For once, we were looking forward to him running again, if only to help us do opposition research on Jeb. But alas, he got capped in broad daylight by the Bush family, who it turns out is really the GOP Establishment. Now we conservatives have to have our champion by the end of this year, or else we risk splintering again and repeating the mistake of the last several primary cycles.”…

But conservatives still have this. In hoping to avoid a Jeb-unites-the-establishment scenario this year, they may have an unlikely ally: Romney himself. In his announcement Friday, Romney made it clear he favors almost anyone other than Bush. “I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee,” Romney said. “In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.” In that wish, Romney and the conservatives may finally be on the same side.