Mitt Romney isn’t a presidential a candidate this time, but his schedule is suddenly crammed with those who are — as the 2012 Republican nominee eagerly injects himself into the 2016 race.

The former Massachusetts governor, who spent Fourth of July week at his Wolfeboro, New Hampshire home, swung east to Maine on Monday for lunch with Jeb Bush, just three days after hosting Chris Christie and Marco Rubio for a sleepover.


It’s enough that some who are close to the candidates are wondering about Romney’s agenda.

Romney allies insist the onetime GOP stalwart isn’t vetting candidates for an endorsement, rather he’s embracing a newfound role he plans to play until the party elevates a presumptive nominee: political tutor.

Romney, who flirted with a third presidential run early this year, fancies himself a mentor to the candidates he’d most like to see occupy the White House in his stead. He won’t endorse any of them but he’ll wield his clout by imparting a decade of campaign wisdom to his favored candidates. His unusually visible foray into the contested primary also enables the 68-year-old Romney to remain relevant in the twilight of his political career.

One close Romney ally, who requested anonymity to speak about the governor’s mind-set, said Republicans haven’t had a figure with Romney’s pedigree in recent cycles.

“The one thing that helps more than anything else is having done it before,” the source said. “Mitt knows better than anybody what it’s like to win and to lose the nomination. They all trust him. It’s very unusual to have somebody of his ilk you can call on. We didn’t have an ally of that stature to help us, particularly in the summer of ‘12.”

Evidence of Romney’s strategy appears in his recent schedule: his meeting with Bush — which took place at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine — was the third with a presidential contender in the past week. Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, slept over at Romney’s New Hampshire home on Friday night, and Rubio attended as well. The meetings come less than a month after the former Massachusetts governor convened Republican prospects in Utah for an informal political summit.

Even without an endorsement forthcoming, the timing and sheer number of gatherings smack of courtship.

It’s partly because Romney has relationships with many of the GOP’s richest donors — including some who have yet to settle on a presidential candidate — and any perceived affiliation with Romney could help loosen their purse strings. For instance, after his failed 2012 presidential bid, Romney forged an unlikely relationship with Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has yet to endorse a candidate. While Adelson spent $20 million boosting Romney’s rival Newt Gingrich in the 2012 primary, sources say that last year he suggested he would have backed Romney in a 2016 primary.

Yet Romney supporters say meetings like the one in Kennebunkport are not about campaign cash either. They’re about cultivating relationships.

“Those are friendly get-togethers,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, a longtime Romney adviser, who said Romney’s all but certain to stay out of primary politics, so long as several candidates align with his views. There’s one scenario, however, in which the calculus could change.

“If there are two strong contenders and one of them is focused on the issues that Mitt cares about, and the other was focused on things that were wrong or less important, I could see him helping the person closest to his views,” Fehrnstrom said.

Bush aides say the lunch with Romney had been in the works for months — that it was scheduled to coincide with a visit to Maine by former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, who also attended the gathering. Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush and his wife, Amanda, were also on hand.

Mitt Romney allies insist the onetime GOP stalwart isn’t vetting candidates for an endorsement. | AP Photo

That candidates are kowtowing to Romney at all is a sharp reversal from the months after Romney failed to oust President Barack Obama in 2012. Romney lost what many Republicans considered a winnable race, and his defeat deepened rifts among factions of the Republican Party who felt he was too moderate to excite the party’s conservative base.

Christie’s pursuit of Romney’s friendship is particularly notable. Many in Romney’s orbit are still bitter about the final week of the 2012 race when Hurricane Sandy ravaged New Jersey. Christie, at the time, welcomed Obama to his state and praised him effusively amid storm recovery efforts. It was a PR boon for Obama. Christie had already been viewed as suspect by Romney supporters for a Republican National Convention speech that largely spelled out his own biography before voicing support for Romney.

Last week, as he barnstormed New Hampshire, Christie recast the Sandy aftermath to point out Romney’s subtle role.

“You know what Mitt Romney said when I called him on Sunday night? He said to me, ‘Don’t spend another minute thinking about me or this election. Do your job,’” Christie said. “That’s why he would’ve been a great president. Mitt Romney didn’t come to my state to showboat like he could have.”

Eli Stokols contributed to this report.