Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was non-committal to South Carolina donors and business leaders questioning him about his presidential ambitions, but exuded "that positive Reagan vision of creating a majority that transcends parties and races," according to those present,
CNN reported Friday.
Bush told the crowd in Columbia, S.C., he'd make his final decision about a presidential run after the holiday season, CNN reports.
But he assured the gathering his brother's and father's presidential legacies wouldn't be a liability, saying he "quit worrying about that a long time ago," sources told CNN.
"He said that everybody has things about them that are positives and negatives, but he said he loves his brother and loves his father, and that every campaign is about telling people who you are," CNN quoted one source saying.
"He said that my last name is the same, but I am not them. That my job is to show people who I am as a policy maker and a man, and that's the same job everyone else has."
Ed McMullen, a Republican public affairs strategist in Columbia, said the response to Bush from the donor crowd was "unbelievable."
"He said that if I am going to run, I would run because I have a positive vision to take the country forward and unify people and do something that the other people in the race are not talking about," McMullen said.
"He had that positive Reagan vision of creating a majority that transcends parties and races and brings people together. I'll tell you what, he makes it very easy to be for him."
Bush also told the donors he admires brother George for not criticizing President Barack Obama as the security in Iraq deteriorates.
"He talked about how proud he was of his brother," one GOP donor told CNN. "He said, I couldn't do it, but what a class act that he knows it's not his place to come out and publicly criticize the sitting president. He said it's tearing his brother up."