If none of these candidates can find some way to break from the pack between now and the end of the year — and Trump maintains what is now a two-month lead over the rest of the GOP field — then the opening for Romney will be clear. He might be the only Republican skilled enough at politics and capable of rallying a critical mass of the GOP rank-and-file who can stop Trump’s political ascendancy.

He also might be the one Republican best positioned to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Democrats have won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections and Clinton is best positioned to rally Democratic voters behind her candidacy. Even with all her troubles, she remains the odds-on favorite to win next year. But Romney would throw some doubt on that likelihood. He’s already shown the ability to run a national campaign. He’s got great name recognition and knows the issues. Not running in the GOP primaries has prevented Romney from taking extreme positions on everything from abortion to immigration that other candidates have been pushed to adopt. His 2012 proposal of self-deporting undocumented immigrants might have been problematic — but it’s still better than ending birthright citizenship. This doesn’t mean Romney would win the presidency, but it does mean he’d likely be more formidable than Bush, Walker, Cruz, or certainly Trump.