I was watching a Bill Maher show from 2012 and he had a GOP strategist on the show who explained that the runner-up of the previous election wins the Republican nomination in the next election (see McCain in 2008 or Romney in 2012) because donors rally around the candidate with the biggest donor base and that is usually a person that already has done some fundraising. With an outsider such as Santorum being the runner-up, there's really no one they can rally around. Paul Ryan who is often mentioned as the next in line has never run a national campaign and he therefore cannot be described as such.
And that's why the Republicans go back to Romney.
That is true. On the other hand the massive rejection of Romney amongst the elites of the party has not trickled down to the similarly not quite so conservative rank and file. Ironically, the far right agrees more with the elites and establishment about Romney, but for different reasons. They also are world's apart on the direction to go in post-Mittens.
Romney represented a break from the 2000's GOP with greater emphasis on economics and competence (though his campaign was anything but obviously). Romney's base and thus a good reason for why Jeb is going to struggle (and Kasich's best path by the way) liked Romney because he was so different from W and the things that defined the 2000s GOP. Granted Jeb is not W, he is still a Bush and the effect still applies. Jeb is banking on selling a narrative of greater win potential and hoping it will make these somewhat conservative voters put winning first. Jeb's biggest and first problem has to be defining himself as his own person and not his father or W, otherwise he will lose not just the general, but also the primary.
