The GOP will keep a watchful eye on a high-powered business and politics conference in Utah this week for signs Mitt Romney may bow to pressure from the establishment Republicans to throw his hat in the ring as a third-party candidate.
On Thursday, Romney is set to kick off the three-day E2 Summit in Park City, an annual gathering of influential political and business leaders who debate the political situation in the country.
The private event attracts about 300 participants from around the country, with Romney as the key speaker,
The Park Record newspaper reports.
The newspaper says that last year the annual event hosted six Republicans who had declared their candidacies for the GOP nomination or were considering it. The E2 Summit was first launched after Romney's unsuccessful presidential run in 2012.
Romney has been urged by several GOP pundits to help stabilize the party by running as a third-party spoiler to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The former Massachusetts governor has said he is not interested, but is said to be keeping close tabs on the intensifying race.
On Wednesday, leading conservative elections analyst and political historian Jay Cost asked Romney to change his mind because the nation needs a "statesman of the first rank."
"These are extraordinary times, and your nation still has need of your service. I respectfully implore you to run for president as an independent candidate in 2016," Cost wrote in
The Weekly Standard.
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