Despite his lack of an official announcement, recent developments leave little doubt that former two-term Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is running hard for the White House.
Just three weeks after announcing he is "actively exploring" a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Bush's "actively" has
morphed into intense activity.
Bush has leaped ahead of the other Republican nomination front-runners, getting an early start on fundraising and setting up a leadership PAC and a super PAC to enable him to steal the lead in the vital march for campaign contributions,
Politico reports.
He has stepped down from the
board of Tenet Healthcare Corp. and from the board of the British bank Barclays, Politico notes.
A veteran GOP fundraiser told Politico, "Everybody was saying Jeb didn’t know how to campaign in the modern day, but he is moving on the fundraising side much more aggressively and much more effectively than everyone else in the field put together.
"By going early, he has really made it much harder for a lot of these other guys in the establishment wing of the party."
CT News notes that Bush will open his drive for PAC cash Wednesday at a
fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut, a Bush family stronghold, being hosted by Craig Stapleton, former Ambassador to the Czech Republic and France, and his wife, Debbie, a Bush cousin.
Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told Politico only that, "Gov. Bush looks forward to traveling the country in the coming months to talk about opportunities and challenges facing our nation and to support great candidates who share his optimistic, conservative vision for the future."
Bush has announced the formation of a PAC called
Right to Rise, and in a speech in both Spanish, in which he is fluent, and English, he said the new PAC will "support candidates who believe in conservative principles to allow all Americans to rise up."
Politico also notes that Bush is consulting with Charlie Spies, the GOP election attorney who put together Restore Our Future, the super PAC that raised $152 million to support Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign.
A source close to Bush told
Fox News that the new PAC "will celebrate success and risk taking, protect liberty, cherish free enterprise, strengthen our national defense, embrace the energy revolution, fix our broken and obsolete immigration system and give all children a better future by transforming our education system through choice, high standards and accountability."