Surely it can't be so. How can a man who proved such an inept candidate in two previous tilts at the White House possibly be readying himself for a third? Even by the standards of American politics and the eccentricity that so often attends the modern Republican Party, Mitt Romney's refusal to call time on his pursuit of the presidency is flabbergasting. So, perhaps even more so, is the judgment of those who are throwing their support behind him.
Mr Romney, it should be remembered, lurched so far to the right and played the role of a rich elitist so convincingly that even those disillusioned with Barack Obama found a reason to vote for the President in 2012. His weaknesses were evident very early in the primaries, and he secured the Republican nomination only because no credible alternative emerged. Among his greatest faults was an inability to appeal to increasingly important Hispanic voters.
It might be expected that his party would learn from this, and seek to attract a far greater share of that vote. Yet this week the Republicans in the House of Representatives were trying to overturn policies introduced by President Obama that provided temporary deportation relief to four million illegal immigrants.
Only once in the past 60 years has the same party won a third presidential election in succession. That suggests the Republicans should sit in a strong position. So they might if a moderate candidate such as Jeb Bush is chosen to run against Hillary Clinton. But Mitt Romney?
