Jeb Bush told the Washington Post that when he met with Mitt Romney earlier this week they mostly avoided talk about the 2016 presidential campaign.
Said Bush: “We talked about the Patriots. We talked a little bit about politics, not as much as you might imagine. We talked about the future of the country. We talked about the need for a more engaged foreign policy.. . .The awkward side of this, about running and such, we put aside.”
“Sketching the broad outlines of a presidential campaign that is undeclared but well underway, Jeb Bush on Friday mixed familiar calls for lower taxes and less regulation with an admonishment to fellow Republicans to stay upbeat and offer hope as their central message in 2016,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Said Bush: “We’re not going to win votes as Republicans unless we can lay out a hopeful, optimistic message that’s based in reality, that’s grounded in a set of policies that are real, that people believe can actually happen. Hope and a positive agenda wins out over anger and reaction every day of the week.”
“As he lines up support for a likely presidential bid, Republican Jeb Bush is offering donors the chance to join his ‘national executive committee’ – if they raise $500,000 by March 31,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A pledge form for Mr. Bush’s newly formed Right to Rise political committee offers other levels of membership: donors who collect $250,000 by March 31 can join the ‘national committee,’ $100,000 to join the ‘state executive committee’ and $50,000 for the ‘state committee.'”
“Jeb Bush is crisscrossing the country on a 60-event fundraising blitz aimed at raising enough money to give other Republicans second thoughts about entering the race,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The fundraising effort, which Mr. Bush’s team has dubbed a ‘shock and awe’ campaign, could be particularly meaningful for Mitt Romney, who is competing with Mr. Bush for support from the same small circle of longtime Republican donors.”
Bloomberg: “Bush tore through Washington this week, impressing the lobbyists and potential donors he met for the first time and leaning on old family friends to help raise huge sums of money as he considers a run for the White House.”
Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney “are scheduled to meet privately this week in Utah, raising the possibility that the two former governors will find a way to avoid competing presidential campaigns that would split the Republican establishment next year,” the New York Times reports.
“The meeting was planned before Mr. Romney’s surprise announcement two weeks ago to donors in New York that he was considering a third run for the White House… The original idea was for Mr. Bush, who announced his presidential ambitions in December, to show his respect for Mr. Romney, the Republican Party’s 2012 nominee. The meeting stayed on both men’s calendars even as Mr. Romney took steps to test the presidential waters, moves that could make the meeting awkward.”
Jeb Bush operatives “announced that 60 events in cities across the country have been scheduled to raise money for his federal leadership political action committee, which can accept money only in limited amounts, and his super PAC, which can accept checks in unlimited amounts,” the Washington Examiner reports.
At a time when Gov. Chris Christie (R) “continued to signal strong interest in a potential 2016 presidential campaign, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was courting a group of top-tier New Jersey Republican donors, activists and officials right in Christie’s own back yard,” the Bergen County Record reports.
“Bush met with about 15 New Jersey Republicans — some of whom backed Christie’s two campaigns for governor — in a private, sit-down dinner at the Union League Club in midtown Manhattan on Jan. 8, according to three people who attended the dinner.”
“Previously unreported court documents suggest that” Jeb Bush was more involved with a Florida company “that marketed prefabricated housing materials for use in disaster zones and other places in need … than has been publicly known — and that he deepened his role even as others… grew concerned about its financial practices,” the Washington Post reports.
“As former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida gears up for a possible campaign for the presidency, he is seen as the brother of the last Republican to live in the White House and therefore, in some ways, the second coming of George W. Bush. But the reality is the Bush brothers are not especially close,” the New York Times reports.
“While loving and supportive of each other, the two brothers do not talk that often, according to family intimates. Seven years apart in age, they travel in different circles and have distinct political networks. The older brother has been a vocal advocate of a Jeb Bush campaign but, like everyone else, reads tea leaves about whether he will run.”
A new Democracy Corps (D) survey shows Hillary Clinton leading Mitt Romney in a race for president, 49% to 43%, and ahead of Jeb Bush by double-digits, 52% to 40%.
David Weigel: “On the right, the return of Mitt Romney—which I prefer to call the Romneyssiance—has sparked fresh new debates about why Jeb Bush was ever the great 2016 GOP hope. Why does he inspire such skepticism, from the right and the center-right, when his brother didn’t?”
First Read: “Romney and Bush (and maybe Christie) in the 2016 GOP field is very good news for Rand Paul and Scott Walker, because it divides up the GOP establishment vote and donor base and allows them to present themselves as the new generation of the Republican Party. And the more time Romney and Bush (and maybe Christie) spend attacking each other, is less time they spend attacking Paul or Walker.”
Nate Cohn says the most compelling challenger to Jeb Bush for the GOP presidential nomination “may be Scott Walker, the battle-hardened governor of Wisconsin. He has made moves toward running, and on paper, he’s the type of candidate who should deeply concern Mr. Bush.”
“Unlike the flawed but better-known conservatives, Mr. Walker has the potential to have broad appeal throughout the Republican Party. Mr. Walker, born in Colorado Springs, is an evangelical Christian who defeated public employee unions in a high-profile battle over collective bargaining rights and who made big budget cuts in a state that has voted for Democrats in seven consecutive presidential elections.”
As Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney “explore presidential campaigns in 2016, they are like boxers warming up for what could become a brutal bout, sizing each other up and mulling whether or when to step into the ring,” the Washington Post reports.
“Their early maneuvering reveals a level of competitiveness and snippiness that stems from a long history following similar career paths in business and politics prescribed by their dynastic families.”
Politico: “It’s a fight neither may be eager to have, but which some donors are framing as a referendum on the past versus the future, even if both men have been well-known political figures for years.”
Jeb Bush “insists that he will not contort himself to satisfy the ideologues of the Republican Party as he lays the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2016. But as he pledges to stay true to his beliefs, an examination of Mr. Bush’s record reveals ways in which those views have already changed since his first run for elected office — in presentation, in tone, in language and, at times, in substance,” the New York Times reports.
“The long trail of Mr. Bush’s pronouncements — from his days as a candidate for governor of Florida in 1994 to his role today as a public policy expert bent on recasting the Republican brand — will inevitability invite suspicion from within his party that he lacks genuine conservative conviction, a wariness that he needs to overcome to win the Republican nomination. But the journey that the trail represents may give Mr. Bush the broader, cross-party appeal necessary to compete in a presidential general election.”
Huffington Post: If you think Jeb Bush is a moderate, you missed his 1994 campaign
First Read: “If he runs for the White House, Jeb Bush will have considerable name ID, a deep roster of party honchos he can count on, and tons of money… But he’s also going to have one major problem: his last name. That was the conclusion after one of us observed a focus group NBC/WSJ pollster Peter Hart (D) conducted in battleground Colorado for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. The 12 focus-group participants — a combination of Democrats, Republicans, and independents — appeared to have two beefs with Bush. One, they were down on dynastic candidates… Two, they clearly associated Jeb Bush with his brother.”
“Jeb Bush’s allies are setting a fundraising goal of $100 million in the first three months of this year—including a whopping $25 million haul in Florida—in an effort to winnow the potential Republican presidential primary field with an audacious display of financial strength,” Bloomberg reports.
“The targets were confirmed by multiple Republican sources involved in finance meetings with Bush’s team. They requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. One said the point is to persuade some establishment candidates to stay on the sidelines in the 2016 race.”
Washington Post: “Right now, Walker is the candidate who can most realistically unite the base and the establishment wings of the party. One only needs to glance at conservative media to see that the Republican base has little time for Jeb Bush… Walker, by contrast, is a hero to the grassroots after winning multiple battles with Wisconsin Democrats and unions. And he also has shown the ability to bring in the money from big donors — facing a recall election in 2012, Walker outraised his Democratic opponent eight to one, with contributions from 13 billionaires outside of the state… And his Wisconsin base should give him plenty of chances to woo Iowa Republicans over the next year. If Jeb Bush and his team are starting up their opposition research unit, Walker is the first one they should target.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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