GOP operatives have a secret plan to make Mitt Romney the Republican nominee

Mitt Romney speaking at a Republican National Committee meeting

(Image credit: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

The Republican Party establishment was sure Donald Trump and Ben Carson would just be a passing fad. But with less than three months before the Iowa caucuses, GOP elites are still waiting. So, they've come up with a back-up plan: Draft Mitt Romney for president. The Washington Post reports:

According to other Republicans, some in the party establishment are so desperate to change the dynamic that they are talking anew about drafting Romney — despite his insistence that he will not run again. Friends have mapped out a strategy for a late entry to pick up delegates and vie for the nomination in a convention fight, according to the Republicans who were briefed on the talks, though Romney has shown no indication of reviving his interest. [The Washington Post]

But that solution is hardly a slam dunk. Even if Romney were to jump in, which he says he won't, The Post contends, "if someone was able to do significant damage to them, there's no telling to whom their supporters would turn, if anyone." With both Trump and Carson, much to the Republican establishment's chagrin, there is no one-step solution to push them out.

"We're potentially careening down this road of nominating somebody who frankly isn't fit to be president in terms of the basic ability and temperament to do the job," one strategist told The Washington Post. "It's not just that it could be somebody Hillary could destroy electorally, but what if Hillary hits a banana peel and this person becomes president?"