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Jeb Bush vowed Monday that he will not scapegoat President Obama for any challenges he faces should he be elected president. "My pledge to you - when I'm president I will not blame Barack Obama for a single thing," he told listeners at the Nashua Country Club in Nashua, N.H. "The day that I'm sworn into office, I'm on watch - whatever it is.

I just finished reading Eli Stokols and Marc Caputo dispiriting report about the Jeb Bush campaign and how many staffers and top level donors – even those still committed to the former Florida governor – recognize the campaign is in a death spiral. I genuinely don’t want to believe that. Counterintuitively, I still believe there is a possibility Bush can pull out of this tailspin. And even if he doesn’t, there’s really no shame in remaining committed to a man who did great things for Florida and is, especially since the terrorist attacks in Paris, the most sober-minded presidential candidate....

A new trend in math at elementary schools around the country has parents pulling out their hair. Mainly because it is the opposite of how most of today's adults were taught to do simple multiplication in the first place. According to a Common Core math worksheet that's gone viral, an elementary child today cannot just say, "5 x 3 = 15." Instead they have to change the multiplication problem to addition before solving the equation. However, if the child says, "5 + 5 + 5 = 15," they will still lose points because the problem must be written as it...

The spotlight wasn’t on him, but Jeb Bush remains the smart money choice. The former Florida governor was solid, if nervous, making no blunders and giving primary voters no reasons to be turned off. He was cool, while Donald Trump was mortifyingly hot, especially amid early questioning on past sexist comments. Bush was measured compared with other more theatrical rivals like Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee. As Trump pandered (probably successfully) to his base by bashing the media and undocumented workers, Bush at least sought to broaden his by toning down his pro-immigration image. Donald Trump...

In early 1989, seven weeks after his father moved into the White House, Jeb Bush took a trip to Nigeria. Nearly 100,000 Nigerians turned out to see him over four days as he accompanied the executives of a Florida company called Moving Water Industries, which had just retained Bush to market the firm’s pumps. Escorted by the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, Bush met with the nation’s political and religious leaders as part of an MWI effort to land a deal that would be worth $80 million.

A former staffer to Jeb Bush established a group earlier this year that can raise money without disclosing its donors, a revelation that has drawn criticism from campaign-finance watchdogs who say the group will allow the likely 2016 candidate to benefit from contributions his campaign might prefer not to disclose. The nonprofit corporation—called Right to Rise Policy Solutions, sharing the same “Right to Rise” name as two other political-action committees raising money for Mr. Bush’s potential campaign—is the latest addition to a group of politically linked organizations not required to disclose their donors. Other potential 2016 candidates, including Louisiana Gov....

A memo from a top adviser to Jeb Bush gives a clue as to how he could connect with the conservative base of his party if he runs for president: talking about his religious faith. Faith is listed as one of nine “issues you care about” in a memo to Mr. Bush’s supporters from Sally Bradshaw that quotes Mr. Bush on each topic, offering an on-message preview of his potential bid for the Republican nomination. Referring to his conversion to Catholicism, Mr. Bush says, “My faith was strengthened when I converted to my wife’s faith…It gives me a serenity that,...

Because the right never trusted him, Mitt Romney spent the entire 2012 presidential primary burnishing his conservative credentials, and spent much of the general election on unsure footing, never confident that the Republican base would be comfortable with his gestures to the broader electorate. If the next Republican nominee is going to find balance, it won't be as an establishment guy putting on a Goldwater impression. The question is whether he’ll be a party activist or another patrician who also happens to be comfortable in his own skin. Two weeks ago, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush weighed in for the...

Jeb Bush has quietly consulted former Republican presidential nominee John McCain about how to run for president without pandering to conservatives in a GOP primary, according to a new report. The New York Times, in a story published Friday, examines the former Florida governor’s thinking on a possible campaign. The story notes that Bush seems to be leaning towards running, but has no desire to change some of his political positions to win over the party’s base. When former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida quietly visited Senator John McCain in his Capitol Hill office this fall, discussion turned to a...

Respondents got to choose among nine potential candidates in the survey: Clinton; Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Vice President Joe Biden; Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.); Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas); Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); former Governor Jeb Bush (R-Fla.); Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Governor Scott Walker (R-Wis.) Clinton gets the support of 38 percent of women millionaires and 27 percent of male millionaires. Among male millionaires of both parties, Hillary is the top choice, with 27 percent. Millionaires are sharply divided on their choice for the next President of the U.S., according to the second CNBC Millionaire Survey released today. Yet...

Jeb Bush revealed that a decision on his presidential ambitions is coming 'in short order', as he spoke out to condemn President Barack Obama's recent immigration order. The former Florida governor said he will make up his mind based on whether he can 'lift people's spirits and not get sucked into the vortex', and whether 'the sacrifice for my family is tolerable'. He said: 'I'm thinking about running for president. And I'll make up my mind in short order - not that far out in the future.' 'I don't know if I'd be a good candidate or a bad one,'...

Allies of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush say his chances of running for president in 2016 are becoming a more likely possibility now than ever before. According to Politico, Bush is laying the groundwork for a bid with private prep work on key international issues and visits to top Senate races across the country to campaign.

Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) touted former governor Jeb Bush (R., Fla.) as a potential contender in the 2016 presidential elections while discussing the merits of nominating a governor as opposed to a senator. “I think that governors who are successful obviously have a cachet that is probably helpful to them, particularly, since the Congress is held in low esteem,” McCain tells National Review Online. “I think there will be some who are very competitive, including Jeb Bush if he decides to run.” McCain says he hadn’t decided to back Bush. “I keep hearing that he may be considering a...

Bush trails by 13 points. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a wide lead over former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in Iowa, according to a hypothetical 2016 Presidential poll conducted by Quinnipiac University. Clinton holds 49 percent while Bush trails with 36 percent. Clinton leads all potential 2016 contenders, but holds the greatest margin over Bush. She leads 47-41 percent over Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), 46-40 percent over Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

In his lone commencement address of the year, former Florida governor Jeb Bush urged students at a Christian liberal arts college Saturday to reaffirm their socially conservative values, a sign that he is underscoring his own as he considers running in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. “Remain true to your convictions and your faith,” Bush said, speaking at Grove City College in northwestern Pennsylvania. “This may seem a little challenging today, where we have a federal government that is willingly violating the religious freedom of its citizens. But we don’t have to accept it.” Dropping a possible hint about his...

Jeb Bush can trace some of his most appealing qualities as a potential presidential candidate for a diversifying electorate to his 40-year partnership with his Mexican-born wife, Columba. The couple speak Spanish to one another, and their lives have been immersed in Hispanic culture and the immigrant experience. But Columba’s intense distaste for the public arena is one of the issues weighing most heavily on the former Florida governor as he grapples with whether to run for the White House in 2016, according to interviews with friends, former staffers and GOP donors close to the family. -snip- Columba Bush at...

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House Speaker John Boehner signaled support for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for president during a press conference on Monday. “Jeb Bush is my friend,” Boehner said. "I think he’d make a great president. And I’ve been nudging him for some time.” Boehner made his remarks during a Q&A session with Texas Tribune at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Boehner also asserted that a majority of Republicans were interested in immigration reform, even though some were blocking the issue. “There are some members of my party that just do not want to deal with this,” Boehner said....

House Speaker John Boehner signaled support for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for president during a press conference on Monday. “Jeb Bush is my friend,” Boehner said. "I think he’d make a great president. And I’ve been nudging him for some time.” Boehner made his remarks during a Q&A session with Texas Tribune at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Boehner also asserted that a majority of Republicans were interested in immigration reform, even though some were blocking the issue.

Enough already. If there’s nothing innately unhealthy about any individual child’s following a parent into politics, we still should look askance when the practice becomes habitual, and when the habit grows so common. The always-commonsensical Barbara Bush, when famously recommending against a Jeb Bush candidacy a few months ago by saying “we’ve had enough Bushes,” was making a broader point. “I think it’s a great country,” she said. “There are a lot of great families. It’s not just four families or whatever. There are other people out there that are very qualified.” In a nation of more than 300 million...