Jeb Bush has decided to suspend his campaign on February 20 after disappointing finishes in the first three primaries of the 2016 election cycle.
The son of George H. W. Bush and brother of George W. Bush entered the race to huge expectations in June, and quickly fueled them with fundraising. Working with a super PAC that has supported his candidacy, Jeb Bush and allies raised more than $150 million by the end of 2015 – far more than any of his GOP rivals.
Photo Facebook
Jeb Bush, 63, the former two-term governor of Florida, failed to inspire Republican primary voters whose mood and needs had changed dramatically since he left government in 2007. In what turned out to be the year of the unconventional outsider, Jeb Bush conducted his campaign as the conventional insider.
In an emotional speech in South Carolina after his third straight disappointing finish in the early voting states, Jeb Bush said: “I’m proud of the campaign that we’ve run to unify our country.
“The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken, and I really respect their decision.”
George W. Bush has started to campaign for his younger brother Jeb’s presidential nomination bid.
The former president met veterans and appeared at a rally in South Carolina on February 15, ahead of the primary election on February 20.
George W. Bush’s legacy has come under fierce attack from Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has spent a lot of campaign cash but failed to make an impact.
Jeb Bush is struggling to catch up with Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who won the New Hampshire and Iowa contests respectively.
His famous family has largely kept out of his presidential nomination battle and he insisted last year that he was running as his own man.
However, last week his mother Barbara Bush, wife of former President George H.W. Bush, spoke out in his support.
During February 13 Republican debate, Jeb Bush defended his brother’s presidency, saying he had built a “security apparatus to keep us safe”.
Donald Trump tore into George W. Bush’s record, accusing him of lying about the reasons for the Iraq War, which he said had destabilized the Middle East.
Experts say that Donald Trump’s tactic of attacking the former president is risky because he still maintains wide appeal among Republicans in South Carolina, from churchgoers to business leaders and retired military personnel.
On February 15, George W. Bush, alongside his wife Laura, met US military veterans at an American Legion Post in Columbia, South Carolina.
Last week, he praised his brother’s abilities in a radio advert, and Jeb Bush will hope his personal appearance will bring dividends on polling day.
Although George W. Bush remains a divisive figure nationally, he and his father both won primary elections in South Carolina.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who quit the presidential race and is now backing Jeb Bush, said: “The Bush name is golden in my state.”
While Republican voters in South Carolina make their choice for president, the Democratic Party is holding its own contest in Nevada on February 20. Republicans in Nevada and Democrats in South Carolina get to express their views in separate contests the following week.
Hilary Clinton has hit back at her Republican rival Jeb Bush over who is responsible for instability in Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS).
On August 11, Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush accused the Obama administration of a “premature withdrawal” of US forces from Iraq in 2011, with “grievous” costs.
Hillary Clinton replied by saying it was Jeb Bush’s brother, George W. Bush, who, as president, negotiated a US withdrawal.
The US-led war in 2003 has been followed by years of turmoil.
Photo AP
Jeb Bush called the withdrawal of US forces in 2011 a “fatal error”, destabilizing the nation and setting the stage for the rise of the Islamic State.
“So eager to be the history-makers, they failed to be the peacemakers,” Jeb Bush said of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who was Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
“Rushing away from danger can be every bit as unwise as rushing into danger,” he told a rally in California.
On the campaign trail in Iowa on August 15, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton responded by saying Jeb Bush “should present the entire picture. [That]… includes the agreement George W. Bush made with the Maliki government in Iraq that set the end of 2011 as the date to withdraw American troops”.
“I can only wonder whether he either did not know that or thought that other people would not be reminded of that,” Hillary Clinton went on.
Earlier in the campaign Jeb Bush was ridiculed for struggling to say whether he would have approved the Iraq invasion “knowing what we know now”.
At first, he said he would, then he said he wouldn’t engage in “hypotheticals” and finally he announced he would not have.
Hillary Clinton herself voted in favor of the invasion in Iraq in 2002, and has since both defended the decision and acknowledged she “got it wrong”.
Jeb Bush has blamed President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton for the current unrest in the Middle East and the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS).
In a 40-minute speech on August 11 at the Reagan Presidential Library in California, Jeb Bush outlined an argument made by many of the current Republican candidates.
By executing a “premature withdrawal” of all US forces in Iraq in 2011, the Republican hopeful said, the Obama administration and then-Secretary of State Clinton committed a “fatal error”, destabilizing the nation and setting the stage for the rise of ISIS militants.
“So eager to be the history-makers, they failed to be the peacemakers,” Jeb Bush said of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
“It was a case of blind haste to get out and to call the tragic consequences somebody else’s problem. Rushing away from danger can be every bit as unwise as rushing into danger, and the costs have been grievous.”
Rushing into a dangerous war is the critique often laid at the feet of Jeb Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, the man who oversaw the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
However, Jeb Bush never mentioned his brother by name, although he made a few veiled references to his sibling’s often tumultuous foreign policy experience.
“No leader or policymaker involved will claim to have gotten everything right in the region, Iraq especially,” he said.
Jeb Bush went on to argue that the US military should become more involved in the Middle East – although the extent of such involvement was left unclear.
He called for a no-fly and “safe” zones over Syria, the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, increasing support for Iraqi Kurds and greater co-ordination between US and Iraqi troops.
Earlier this week, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton engaged in a round of accusations and counter attacks over education policy via Twitter.
Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has revealed he lost 40 lbs since adopting the Paleo diet in December 2014.
“My motivation is what gives me joy,” Jeb Bush told a reporter in the all-important primary state of Iowa.
Photo Facebook
“I feel compelled to share that joy with people, not to strike fear or give them the sense that the world is coming to an end.”
Jeb Bush is to be commended for his commitment to personal fitness, especially as he is seeking the Republican nomination to run for a party whose constituents are statistically fatter than the other guys.
Jeb Bush has launched his bid to become the Republican nominee for president.
In a video released hours ahead of his official launch in Miami, the former Florida governor has pledged to fix America.
Jeb Bush, 62, declared: “I’m ready to lead.”
The brother of ex-President George W. Bush and son of ex-President George H.W. Bush also promised to protect America’s most vulnerable and remove the barriers to social mobility.
However, doubts persist among conservatives in his party.
Early polling suggests that Jeb Bush has yet to dominate a wide field of Republican candidates.
In his latest video, entitled The Greatest Century, Jeb Bush strikes a very optimistic note, saying: “I see a great country on the verge of its greatest century, and I’m ready to lead.”
Although his campaign becomes official on June 15, it’s been no secret for many months and his team is well on the way to raising a $100 million war chest.
During a tour of Europe last week, Jeb Bush warned he would not waver from his core beliefs, even if some are unpopular in his party.
He said: “I’m not going to change who I am.
“I respect people who may not agree with me, but I’m not going to change my views because today someone has a view that’s different.”
In a separate video, called Making A Difference, Jeb Bush champions the rights of women, ethnic minorities and the disabled.
He says: “My core beliefs start with the premise that the most vulnerable in our society should be in the front of the line and not the back.
“What we need is new leadership that takes conservative principles and applies them so that people can rise up.”
Jeb Bush becomes the 11th Republican to declare, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio among his biggest rivals.
Jeb Bush has said he admires his father and brother’s presidencies but he is his “own man” on foreign policy.
In a speech in Chicago, the former Florida governor outlined a broad strategy of projecting American power and addressing “the shortfalls in our defense spending”.
Jeb Bush also criticized President Barack Obama for an “inconsistent and indecisive” foreign policy.
He is one of several Republicans expected to run for president in 2016.
Jeb Bush is the brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush.
He has developed campaign infrastructure but has not officially said he is running.
In the speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Jeb Bush says he has been “lucky” to have family who “shaped America’s foreign policy from the Oval Office”.
Photo Reuters
“I recognize that as a result, my views will often be held up in comparison to theirs,” Jeb Bush said.
“But I am my own man – and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.”
The Washington Post reported 19 of 21 Jeb Bush’s foreign policy advisors are pulled from his brother and father’s administrations, although many were also considered as advisors to Mitt Romney before he backed out of a run.
Jeb Bush has demurred from answering whether he believes his brother’s choice to go to war in Iraq was appropriate.
During the speech, he criticized Barack Obama as someone who “has left America less influential in the world”.
“I believe fundamentally that weakness invites war … and strength encourages peace,” Jeb Bush said.
Jeb Bush also expressed concern over negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme and backed the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone metadata records of Americans.
According to recent reports, Mitt Romney has been reviving his national network of political supporters and donors for a third run at the White House in 2016.
One Republican source told the Washington Post the defeated 2012 candidate “almost certainly will” launch a 2016 presidential campaign.
Last week Mitt Romney told Republican donors in New York he was interested in running.
If he does, he could be up against Jeb Bush for the party nomination and then Hillary Clinton in a general election.
The Washington media is abuzz with reports that Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has spent the past few days reaching out to political allies and potential sources of campaign funding.
The Post reports that Mitt Romeny’s wife Ann has come round to the idea, although there are still some reservations among his five sons.
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Few families can know as well as the Romneys what is involved.
In 2008, their father and husband won some of the Republican primary contests but was beaten by John McCain.
Four years later, Mitt Romney fell at the final hurdle, losing in the presidential election to Barack Obama, who decisively secured victory and his second term.
Mitt Romney’s campaign was criticized for alienating Hispanics and not connecting sufficiently with ordinary people.
According to Politico, Mitt Romney is determined to learn from past mistakes and is thinking about making helping the poor a central theme of any campaign.
Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and brother of former president, George W. Bush, declared he is actively exploring a potential run.
Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush could be competing both for the same financial backers and for the Republican middle ground.
2016 possible candidates
No-one has formally declared but these are some of the names to watch:
George W. Bush’s younger brother, Jeb Bush, has reportedly scaled back his business commitments as he thinks seriously about a 2016 White House run.
One of the Republican’s aides told the Washington Post the former Florida governor had ended his board memberships and resigned as a paid adviser to an education company.
Jeb Bush last month announced he was “exploring” running for president.
A 2016 bid could bring him up against the former first lady, Hillary Clinton.
Photo AP
Jeb Bush’s father, former President George H.W, Bush, was defeated by Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 election.
Hillary Clinton is the Democratic frontrunner and widely expected to run, although she says she will make a decision in 2015.
Jeb Bush’s spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told the Post his decision to shed a large number of his business commitments, effective from New Year’s Day, meant he could focus on a “potential” run for president.
The Post reported that Jeb Bush has even stepped down from the board of his education foundation.
He recently terminated a consulting deal with Barclays, the British investment bank that reportedly paid him more than $1 million a year.
When he announced he was thinking about a presidential run, Jeb Bush said he would set up a political action committee in January to gauge support among donors and supporters.
Although he became the immediate frontrunner among the Republican candidates, Jeb Bush’s pro-immigration views have enraged some conservatives in his party.
Jeb Bush, a moderate conservative, has a Mexican-born wife, Columba, and three children. He speaks excellent Spanish and spent eight years as Florida governor, until 2007.
George W. Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, has announced he himself is looking into running for the White House in 2016.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will “actively explore the possibility of running for President” as he wrote on Facebook on December 16.
He will also create a political action committee to “facilitate conversations with citizens across America”.
Jeb Bush has pro-immigration views, an issue likely to top the 2016 campaign.
But his views on this subject and on education have enraged some conservative Republicans.
Jeb Bush is not the only familiar name circling the upcoming election.
Former First Lady and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is currently the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic ticket.
The announcement marks the first major Republican candidate to make a formal move toward announcing candidacy for the 2016 presidential nomination.
“In the coming months, I hope to visit with many of you and have a conversation about restoring the promise of America,” Jeb Bush wrote on Facebook.
His committee, named Leadership PAC, will help “support leaders, ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans”.
He is not expected to announce his decision until next year “after gauging support”, Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, told the Associated Press news agency.
“This is a natural next step and represents a new phase of his consideration process,” she added.
Jeb Bush’s Facebook statement is the strongest yet to indicate he plans to attempt to become the third member of his family – after his father, George H.W. Bush, and brother, George W. Bush – to become the president of the US.
During two terms as governor of Florida, he overhauled the state’s education system and pushed for substantial tax cuts.
In a recent televised interview, Jeb Bush claimed he “would be a good president” and promised to release a cache of emails from his time as governor.
Other names in the frame for the Republican nomination include Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and Governor Chris Christie.
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