“If Romney were to get involved in the last month before the [New Hampshire] primary and say, ‘Listen, there are a lot of great people in this race, but Candidate X is the person I’m going to stand with, I think the earned media would be tremendous,” said one high-level New Hampshire Republican strategist, who, like other sources in this story, requested anonymity in order to speak more candidly. “And if he decided not only to go in to endorse, but also hit the road with that candidate, it could be determinative.”

“He would be, more than anyone else, the game-changer on the ground in New Hampshire,” the strategist added…

Among the factors weighing on Romney’s mind, his associates say, is the mild sense of disappointment he harbors with the GOP field for allowing the race to get to a point where a gleefully deceitful reality TV star could be so far ahead with just two months to go until the New Hampshire primary.

As Romney sees it, the best strategy would have been for a GOP candidate to have adopted an overtly anti-Trump strategy some time ago. One former senior aide pointed to the way Romney successfully attacked former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tex.) on Social Security and immigration as soon as the Texas Republican entered the 2012 primary; or how his super PAC promptly upended Newt Gingrich in Florida on the heels of the former House speaker’s South Carolina primary victory.

In that vein, most people close to Romney do not believe that he is currently inclined to offer an endorsement prior to the New Hampshire primary.