One of the questions I hear about another potential Romney campaign is whether there is any space for another Romney campaign in what will likely be a crowded Republican field. What would Romney bring?

There should be zero room for Romney. There should be any number of fresher candidates who are as good or better along every dimension, but the response of the GOP establishment to the 2012 campaign has created room for another Romney run.

The GOP establishment could have focused on technical issues and left matters of policy up to individual candidates, but the establishment made it a point to push for an even more Chamber of Commerce-friendly version of the 2012 Romney campaign (basically the Romney campaign plus upfront amnesty) under pretext of inclusion. The Republican National Committee autopsy made the politic case for this approach while Jeb Bush advisor Mike Murphy made the obnoxious case.

The strength of this approach was less its inherent appeal to the voters than its ability to get widespread support from Republican elites. If all of the establishment-backed presidential candidates backed this strategy (with only quibbles and differences in emphasis to distinguish them), then the establishment strategy can’t lose in the primaries. The thinking would be that all of the anti-establishment candidates would lack either the money, the staffing, or the stature to challenge the establishment for control of the nomination (though one of the dissidents might get a nice talk radio gig).

The irony is that the seeming unanimity of the establishment created an opening for a more middle-class-oriented version of the Romney campaign. We know that Romney can raise money and can staff a national campaign. For all of his flaws, Romney has the stature to be president. He is not the best positioned (either by record or by temperament) to run a more middle-class -oriented campaign, but this would not be the first time he had to fake it. A more populist Romney campaign would also risk having to fight a two-front war against both the party’s establishment and the various anti-establishment candidates. I’m not saying he would win. I am saying there is room for a certain kind of Romney campaign.

Jonathan Coppage has some ideas about how this could work. I’ll offer my own ideas a little later.