“If Romney decides to run,” Miller added, “I will gladly lend my support to his candidacy. If Hatch runs agains and Romney stays out, I believe you will see many Republicans seriously consider getting in the race, myself included.”

Boyd Matheson is another prominent Utah Republican who was exploring a Senate bid, only to announce last month that he would not run. “I think this kind of clears the last of the path for Mitt,” he told me at the time. Matheson warned that any power play by Hatch would likely not be well-received in the state.

“Many of the senator’s recent positions and statements have led Utahns to speculate if he was falling into the trap that so many politicians do,” Matheson said, “becoming more interested in solving their own political problems than solving the American people’s problems.” As an example, he contrasted Hatch’s decision to defend Trump’s endorsement of Roy Moore with Romney’s insistence that electing a man credibly accused of sexually abusing teenage girls “would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation.” Hatch’s response, Matheson said, “has deepened this fearful question of, ‘Will he really say anything to hold on to power?’ And Utahns are increasingly exhausted by that.”

A spokesman for Hatch declined to comment for this story.

In public, Hatch has said that he would make up his mind about reelection by the end of the year, once congressional Republicans passed their tax reform bill—a process in which he played a key role as Senate Finance Chairman. But as I reported in October, Hatch had made clear behind the scenes that he was headed toward retirement—raising money for an institute or library in his own name, privately telling allies that he planned to exit the Senate after 2018, and personally recruiting Romney to launch a bid to become his successor.

In an April interview with National Journal, Hatch said, “If I could get a really outstanding person to run for my position, I might very well consider [retiring],” adding, “Mitt Romney would be perfect.”

In private, Hatch went so far as to hand-deliver a memo to Romney laying out the reasons that he should run for his seat, according to someone with direct knowledge of the document. A spokesperson for Hatch declined to comment.

By this past fall, sources close to both men were saying that a plan had been set in motion for Hatch to announce his retirement and for Romney to announce a campaign to replace him.

Then, the White House got involved.

Eager to keep his longtime adversary out of the Senate, the president went to work lobbying Hatch to run for another term. As the Washington Post detailed, Trump’s recent trip to Utah was largely choreographed with the aim of boosting Hatch’s standing with conservative voters, and convincing him not to let go of his Senate seat just yet. Speaking before a crowd of Utahns, Trump praised Hatch as the kind of “fighter” Republicans need in Washington now.