RUSH: There’s a story here at the DC Observer: “Will Mitt Romney Jump in? — As Jeb Bush struggles to carry the establishment mantle, some wonder whether the time is right for Romney.”

(interruption) CNN’s reporting that their source says the cop shot is dead? Oh, that’s been known for half hour or so that the cop was dead. We don’t know anything else about the cop. That’s what we’re waiting to find out. We don’t know anything about the motive. We probably won’t know anything about the motive for the rest of the year. Officer shot near Chicago dead; three suspects: Two white, one black. Big manhunt going on.

And, meanwhile, the Republican establishment is getting nervous. Big money is threatening to leave Jeb Bush. Stop and think of this. How many Republicans are there as announced candidates? Sixteen, right? And the minute the establishment’s candidate looks like he’s in trouble, do they turn to any of the 16? No!

They’re turning to Mitt Romney. Now, what does that tell you? It’s more than what’s obvious to you. It tells you that as far as the Republican Party officialdom, the RNC, the establishment, whatever you want to call them, those candidates are up there not to really win. They’re up there to split the anti-Bush vote. They’re up there to soak up all of the money Bush doesn’t get, and then they are there to drop out eventually when they don’t do well, when they can’t raise enough money because all of it goes to Jeb because that’s the original strategy. Bush is gonna soak up all the money, making it impossible for the others to run.

This was the strategy before Trump got in. And the Republican establishment actually hoped for and wanted a lot of candidates. For example, I think Lindsey Graham announcing was strictly Republican Party tactics. Lindsey Graham knows he’s not gonna be elected. Lindsey Graham knows he’s not gonna be nominated. But in South Carolina he could do something. He could help siphon some money away from Bush.

See, the point is you’ve got Bush, the establishment guy, and you’ve got some junior establishment guys up there. The junior establishment guys are all there to protect Jeb by taking money and votes away from the others who are not part of this, the Carsons, the Scott Walkers, Christies. I don’t know, Christie might be with the establishment, I’m not sure. But you have some genuine conservative candidates here, the Republican establishment, the more the merrier, ’cause the more of them in there the more the vote is split, Jeb gets all the money. You get people like Lindsey Graham and Pataki, some of these others in there, establishment candidates to surround Jeb and protect him.

But now Jeb’s in trouble, and the very fact that the RNC and some of the money people don’t want to go to some of these survivors who already announced, they want to go back to Mitt, what does it tell you? Well, it tells you a lot. But, I mean, this is pathetic. The last best hope is 2012’s loser? As opposed to one or two of the others who have announced who have been campaigning, who have been on the stump, who have been raising money, who’ve been out making speeches, who’ve been out making their case. Now if Jeb doesn’t make it, if the money leaves and we gotta get somebody in there to replace Jeb that’s gonna hold on to the money and that’s gonna be Romney? Okay.