The news story:
Still popular in Florida, former Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he’s interested in the seat Sen. Mel Martinez is giving up, and the field of possible candidates could quickly narrow to make way for the president’s younger brother.
Bush, 55, won praise from Democrats and Republicans alike for leading the state through eight hurricanes over a two-year period. He used standardized testing to overhaul the education system, was credited with making government more efficient and lowered taxes to make Florida more business-friendly.
While his older brother, soon-to-be former President George W. Bush is so unpopular and has been a liability to many Republicans candidates – and was one undoing for Martinez – Jeb Bush remains a popular figure here.
“I hope that Gov. Bush gets in the race. In my personal opinion, he understands public policy better than any other potential candidate looking at that race, by far,” said former state House Speaker Allan Bense, who was contemplating his own bid. Bense said he would not run if Bush entered. “It would clear the Republican field, I’m sure.”
Jeb is something special – I supported him in his unsuccessful 1994 bid for the governorship, and would have backed him in 1998 when he won had I not moved out of the State by that time. There isn’t much dispute that Jeb Bush was one of Florida’s most effective and successful governors, and the only reason he’ll never be President is because his older brother has already been.
But off to the Senate might be a good thing – good, that is, to get someone in there with strong conservative principles backed by the practical knowledge so often lacking in Senate proposals. A Senator Bush would not only know good ideas, but would know how they are likely to affect real world people in their day to day lives.
As a bonus, it would also usefully annoy liberals to have a Bush remaining in the seat of power in DC.
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