McConnell says he 's spoken to Romney amid Utah Senate speculation . 
Mitt Romney
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch tries to publicly prod Romney into running for his seat . 
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch tries to publicly prod Romney into running for his seat . 
Talk about Romney , meanwhile , is viewed as much more hypothetical -- particularly because Romney has always been hesitant to close doors . 
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- Mitt Romney has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell amid speculation that the 2012 GOP presidential nominee could run for the Senate in Utah , McConnell said Friday . 
A long-time adviser to Romney told CNN that "it 's just a hypothetical exercise" fueled by Utah Republicans ' desire for Romney to run unless Hatch decides against seeking re-election . 
Romney 's talks with then President-elect Donald Trump about the position of secretary of state suggested Romney is willing to consider a return to politics . 
A Senate seat would give Romney -- though just one of 100 members -- a platform to counter Trump , as well , much as he did during the 2016 campaign . 
"I 've had some conversations with Mitt Romney ," McConnell told reporters . 
Currently , though , Romney is on a charity trip in Indonesia . 
Of course they 're going to approach Mitt Romney and say , ` Hey , would you run , what do you think ? '" 
Hatch told CNN on Friday that he speaks to Romney regularly -- but deflected questions about Romney , the former Massachusetts governor who is Mormon and owns a home in Utah , replacing him , saying it is "early to talk about this stuff ." 
Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans downplayed a potential Romney bid , casting it as speculative at this point . 
Speculation about a Romney Senate bid has swirled since Hatch told the National Journal last week that he has "expressed interest" to Romney in having him seek his seat , and could step aside "if I could get a really outstanding person to run for my position ." 
"While it 's no secret that I hold Mitt Romney in extraordinarily high esteem , my musing aloud on the subject has apparently snowballed into a frenzy of premature speculation .
[TGT] has spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch tries to publicly prod [TGT] into running for [TGT] seat . 
[TGT] has spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch tries to publicly prod [TGT] into running for [TGT] seat . 
Talk about [TGT] , meanwhile , is viewed as much more hypothetical -- particularly because [TGT] has always been hesitant to close doors . 
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- [TGT] has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell amid speculation that the 2012 GOP presidential nominee could run for the Senate in Utah , McConnell said Friday . 
A long-time adviser to [TGT] told CNN that "it 's just a hypothetical exercise" fueled by Utah Republicans ' desire for [TGT] to run unless Hatch decides against seeking re-election . 
[TGT] 's talks with then President-elect Donald Trump about the position of secretary of state suggested [TGT] is willing to consider a return to politics . 
A Senate seat would give [TGT] -- though just one of 100 members -- a platform to counter Trump , as well , much as [TGT] did during the 2016 campaign . 
"I 've had some conversations with [TGT] ," McConnell told reporters . 
Currently , though , [TGT] is on a charity trip in Indonesia . 
Of course they 're going to approach [TGT] and say , ` Hey , would you run , what do you think ? '" 
Hatch told CNN on Friday that [TGT] speaks to [TGT] regularly -- but deflected questions about [TGT] , the former Massachusetts governor who is Mormon and owns a home in Utah , replacing [TGT] , saying it is "early to talk about this stuff ." 
Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans downplayed a potential [TGT] bid , casting it as speculative at this point . 
Speculation about a Romney Senate bid has swirled since Hatch told the National Journal last week that he has "expressed interest" to [TGT] in having [TGT] seek [TGT] seat , and could step aside "if I could get a really outstanding person to run for my position ." 
"While it 's no secret that I hold [TGT] in extraordinarily high esteem , my musing aloud on the subject has apparently snowballed into a frenzy of premature speculation .