Brooks: si Romney flaquea, el establishment entra en pánico

The Daily Caller:

The topsy-turvy nature of the 2012 race for the Republican nomination suggests that a lack of cash isn’t the kind of impediment for a candidate that once was. And New York Times columnist David Brooks says that could have left the door open for anyone — including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, had he decided to run. On Friday’s “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on PBS, Brooks said the younger Bush would be be up in the polls, despite his family link with former President George W. Bush.

(...) On NPR’s “All Things Considered,” broadcast Friday, Brooks doubled down on his Bush hypothesis.

“If Jeb Bush were in this race, he would be the front-runner right now even with the Bush last name,” Brooks said. “And I bet he’s kicking himself because he would be the guy who could unify some of the tea party and some of the Romney folks.”

Brooks answered the question he posed on “NewsHour” — what if Romney falters? Expect trouble inside Washington, D.C. establishment circles, he said.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to switch to the ‘who’s actually going to run the country?’ phase, and then I think Romney will [prevail],” Brooks said. “I don’t think there will be irreconcilable divide. The interesting question for me is what happens if Romney has a bad week or two bad weeks … what happens if he begins to look doubtful? Then you see the entire Washington establishment going into conniption fits.”