Get ready for a battle of the dynasties in 2016.
With Hillary Clinton a near-certain shoo-in for the Democrat nomination, now the strategists, fundraisers, big-name supporters, and formidable family of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are rallying for yet another Bush run at the White House.
Jeb's son, Jeb Jr.,
told The New York Times, "No question. People are getting fired up about it — donors and people who have been around the political process for a while, people he's known in Tallahassee when he was governor. The family, we're geared up either way."
Even Bush's wife, Columba, and his mom, Barbara, known to have qualms over another Bush running for the presidency, seem to be nearing acceptance, family insiders say.
The biggest supporter of a run for Jeb? His older brother, former President George W. Bush. "The one person who is really, really trying to get Jeb to run is George W.," a family insider told the Times. "He's talking it up all the time."
In a recent interview with
ABC-TV, George P. Bush, Jeb's son who's running for the office of Texas land commissioner, said it was "more than likely" that his dad will run, and added that should he do it, the Bush family would support the decision "a hundred percent."
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Polls show Jeb Bush has a good shot at the nomination, currently running just 0.2 percent behind the presumed leader of the GOP pack, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, in RealClearPolitics'
roundup of polls.
Inside the Bush clan and the Bush machine, a family insider told the Times, the excitement at the prospect of a potential Jeb Bush candidacy is growing. "They're like horses in the stall waiting for the gate to break," he told the Times. "They're all jumping up and down."
Jeb, 61, served as Florida's governor from 1999 to 2007 and, since then, has remained quiet about his political intentions. Insiders told the Times he has yet to authorize campaign staffers and backers to start working on his behalf.
"He has certainly not given anyone I'm aware of the ability to have conversations with potential donors or staff to keep his powder dry," Sally Bradshaw, Jeb Bush's longtime adviser, told the Times. "That doesn't mean people don't call us and say we want Jeb to run. But he has not given a green light to that."
Still, Bush has made more than 35 campaign appearances, stumping for other candidates and building up political favors that, if he runs, will likely come due.
While Jeb's stand on Common Core and immigration go against the party line, Republican sources are convinced the party's backing will be there for a Bush candidacy should he seek it.
A party fundraising veteran
told Bloomberg News, "The Republican donor base will fall in line. There is no competition."
Yet another Republican insider told Bloomberg News, "He believes that he can convince people what the Republican Party stands for and what it can do on behalf of the American people," while another, a friend of Jeb's, said, "He's getting there. He's working himself into it."
Jeb Jr. told the Times, "If there's one guy out there who knows how to run a presidential campaign, it's definitely him. He's been around it, really, since 1980. He understands the full-court press."
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