Free Republic

This look at Jeb Bush's chances and path to win the Republican presidential nomination is part of a series here on The Fix looking at all the top candidates. Where does he stand in the polls? The former Florida governor began the race as the odds-on Republican front-runner, and the early polling backed that up. He led most every national poll conducted in late 2014 and traded leads with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, among others, early in 2015. Then, the race actually began. Bush launched his campaign in mid-June, and by mid-July began a steady decline. While he topped out...

Jeb Bush's US presidential bid is boiling down to early voting New Hampshire, some associates say, while others envision his protracted battle for the Republican nomination stretching deep into the spring. Either way, supporters and analysts agree it will be difficult for Bush, a former Florida governor and son and brother of two presidents, to emerge as the nominee given American conservatives' current appetite for anti-establishment candidates and the roiling ethno-nationalism of erratic frontrunner Donald Trump. -snip- In private, according to one major donor and acquaintance, Bush has expressed exasperation at the state of the race, and how a bullying...

They wrote big checks to Jeb Bush before they knew what type of candidate he would be. Now he may become the spoiler they fear. Last fall, when Jeb Bush was still mulling a bid for the presidency, Bloomberg Politics reported on what was considered then—and is still considered now—Bush’s greatest advantage as a presidential candidate: His ability to separate wealthy donors from vast sums of money quickly. “Unlike his competitors,” the thinking went, “Bush could lure donors off the fence in a hurry, without undergoing a hazing trial to test skill and stability.” That is precisely what happened. Instants...