Playing Seek-and-Hide

Will the old actor ask for an encore?

Please, do not put me into an election by going too early and forming a committee. Please let me make that decision at the proper time.

—Ronald Reagan

Both the setting and the content of that remark last week advanced a tantalizing and serious game that might be called seek-and-hide. The President was addressing a luncheon of 80 former political directors of his national campaigns, and the very fact that he had called them together in Washington provided a new indication that he will seek a second...