Posted on 01/06/2009 1:54:02 PM PST by jbwbubba
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will not run for the open Senate seat of Sen. Mel Martinez, he announced in a statement released moments ago.
"After thoughtful consideration, I have decided not to run for the United States Senate in 2010," said Bush. "While the opportunity to serve my state and country during these turbulent and dynamic times is compelling, now is not the right time to return to elected office."
Bush's decision robs Republicans of a top-tier recruit who would have immediately been favored to hold Martinez's seat. Without Bush in the race, Republicans are almost certain to play host to a crowded and competitive primary.
The announcement comes after 48 hours of rampant rumors among the Florida political community that Bush had decided not to make the race.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
I sure do like how you think!
Would you rather have someone in the Senate who votes with Republicans 90% of the time, or would you prefer to cut your nose off to spite your face with Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, or God forbid Robert Wexler.
If you're hoping to find a firebrand conservative to get elected in a state that just comfortably went for Obama, you may be disappoited.
Look around - such criticism is everywhere. Actually I’m not criticizing him at all. I lived in Florida for a time when he was governor and I liked him and still like him a lot. He is in fact more conservative than his brother and father.
“IMHO the elder Bush is looking better every day.”
Has been for a while now.
Have no fear... George P. (Jeb’s son) will be in the mix sometime in the near future... ready and willing to open up the southern border to all that’s Mexican... come one, come all... good ol’ U.S.A. will foot the bill.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for that future nightmare...
Well, this puts the whole race into chaos. For me, state House Speaker Marco Rubio is the most intriguing possiblilty.
I do hope Marco Rubio runs. He would have our support.
LMAO!!
Too bad he lost in 1994 to Lawton Chiles he would have been President now instead of his incoherent brother.
Not good news, this will make it harder to win that and we will need every seat we can get in 2010 just to avoid a slide to socialism.
Jeb Bush was a good Governor.
I’m disappointed....Jeb would have won easily now we’ll have a huge field of candidates.
After six months to a year of President Obama's arrogance and a political, diplomatic, or military disaster mishandled by the administration to be, a lot of the Bush bashers here are going to be sorely missing President Bush.
While he is far from perfect, he is a darn sight better than what we are going to have to deal with for the next 2-4 years...
Well that’s that.
Who knows maybe he’dve been ripe to be upset anyway.
exactly I live in north FL and he would be much better than a Dem and he would be most certain to win the seat .
Now we have to wait and see if the Dems take the seat
shame as he would have been the best bet for here.
He might not be as conservative as some of us want but he’s far more better than a Democrat.
He would have got that seat easy as he did alright for us here in FL but now we could be looking at two Dem senators in my state and I will not cut my nose off for spite
THE POLITICO
Jeb Bush gives an interesting interview to the L.A. Times’s Peter Wallsten:
Bush pledged to be involved in rebuilding the Republican Party by advocating conservative ideas and policies. But in a written statement, he also called on his fellow Republicans to “raise the level of debate to reflect the American people’s desire for change and bipartisanship, embodied by November’s historic election.”
“President-elect Obama ran a tremendous campaign, and I am proud to call him my president,” Bush said in the statement.
In the interview, he added that Obama appeared to be a “very impressive guy” who is “smart, disciplined, not rash.” And he called on Republicans to avoid targeting the new president with the same kind of partisan attacks that he said Democrats had hurled unfairly at his brother — attacks that he summed up as “Bush-hating.”
“The opposition should be about ideas and not what my brother suffered through in the last eight years,” he said. “I don’t wish that on President Obama.”
Glad he won’t run. But he should not be involved in rebuilding the GOP after they way he whined for special perks for illegal aliens. His love for illegal aliens indicated he will not put the interest of this country over foreign interests.
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