Romney ends recruiting for independent candidate

Mitt Romney won’t launch a third-party presidential campaign of his own and has stopped trying to recruit somebody else to do it.

The 2012 Republican nominee had attempted to recruit a challenger to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But prospects like Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said no, and Romney is now dropping his efforts, a source familiar with Romney’s thinking told CNN. The news was first reported by Yahoo News.

It’s the latest blow to the “Never Trump” movement — a group of conservatives led by Romney, blogger Erick Erickson and The Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol — to find an alternative to Trump.

Romney still hopes a candidate will emerge. But an adviser to the “Never Trump” efforts confirmed Tuesday night that the efforts are looking grim.

Part of the challenge, a key “Never Trump” official said, is that prospective candidates need to hear a campaign plan that involves money, staffing, viability, key states to target and a plan to get onto the presidential debate stages.