Two days ago, Mitt Romney announced that he would be running alongside John Kasich in Ohio. Many people are unaware of why. It is probable, though, that he is joining the fight to stop Donald Trump from becoming President, as he advised against Republicans for voting for Trump in a speech on March 3rd. Romney has even joined the trending #StopTrump online movement. Even though Romney isn’t officially running for the Presidential election, his has shown up in the Vegas Presidential betting odds as a possible underdog, around 66/1 at Bovada.

So how could Mitt Romney possibly become President if he isn’t officially running yet? Well, he might be playing the long game. Once in a blue moon something will happen during the race for the Presidency, and it is called a brokered convention. This event occurs when no single candidate receives the majority of delegates before the party’s nominating convention. When brokered conventions take place, nominees’ trade off delegate votes in order to boost or lower other candidates’ odds of winning. In essence, John Kasich, and possibly Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, could hand over their delegates to Mitt Romney which might in turn give him a majority over Donald Trump.

Alternatively, Trump could gain any of these candidates’ delegates as well, it all depends on who wants to give what to whom. The reason it would be possible for Romney to win the nomination is that, considering who the front runner is, many of those still in the running might not decide to give their delegates to any of the other candidates. If the convention gets to a gridlock such as this, which is when an outsider like Romney might be a possibility. So it makes sense that he is showing his face now, to get it in the minds of the voters.

Mitt Romney might not be officially running for President, but when asked if he would accept the Republican nomination as the result of a brokered event, he said that he would. Many people, including Ted Cruz, believe that this sort of “intervention” in the political process might cause a revolt in the Republican voting masses. We will just have to wait and see.