I have been a Republican since I wore an “I Like Ike” button to school. I still have it in my jewelry box. In 1966, as a young mother in Tyler, TX, I labored for Senator John Tower’s reelection in a state where everybody had to run as a Democrat. I had a toddler and a crawling baby, and I addressing mailers at my kitchen table because it was all I could do to help stop Lyndon Johnson’s “guns and butter” inflation of my household budget.

I am in despair that we have no candidate this year that I can vote for. I am an evangelical Christian who attaches vast importance to fiscal conservatism and tax policy that rewards entrepreneurship and free enterprise. To get my vote, a candidate must have strong character and the type of leadership qualities that one must have in his DNA. Romney suits me completely, and I don’t care that he’s a Mormon. He’s a Christian. I could have happily supported him, but the northeast liberals have seized the votes with their winner-take-all primaries, and we have lost our voice in the Republican Party.

How can we get Jeb Bush to run as an independent? Think about it. In an ordinary year, he would have the baggage of Bush fatigue. But I bet he could win in a three-way race against any Democrat and an unreliable, hotheaded, too old, moderate at best, and not very nice candidate like McCain. This could be Jeb’s time, and the best shot he will ever have. He would have no latino problem, being loved in Florida. Our low turnout compared to the Dems shows us that the party is too dispirited to be successful this year. Jeb Bush is the closest thing to Reagan in or out of organized politics, and I could get very excited about his independent candidacy.