Jeb Bush Announced Run for Presidency -A Repetition of the Bush Era?

Jeb Bush formally announced his intention to earn the Republican nomination for president on Monday. Today only makes official what has been known for months, and while Bush has been the de facto front-runner since the start, a victory in the primaries is anything but cemented.

His first and potentially most significant advantage will be name recognition. Coming from a notoriously political family, Jeb will have to negotiate a balance between an acceptance of the gauntlet and a rejection of the stigma.

Jeb has already struggled to find this balance on multiple issues. He has already stumbled on questions pertaining to his view on the Iraq War, and while he now admits that in hind sight it was a bad idea, the flip flop and fundamental misunderstanding of history was troubling for the American people. Additionally, Bush will have to distance himself from George W.’s economic policies, an area his brother struggled mightily in.

His experience will also play a big role. As the experienced governor of a large swing state, Bush has appealed to both sides of the isle on different issues. For example, Bush has been very accepting of immigrants, a fact his socially conservative foes will harp on. On the other hand, Bush made it legal for citizens to register to vote in weapons distributors, assisting the NRA in a huge victory for gun lobbyists.

That begs the question: which supporters has he won over? Well, not all that many yet. In comparison to past Republican candidates such as Romney and McCain at this stage, Bush has substantially fewer endorsements. However, Bush has 11 of 17 endorsements from the Floridian House delegation giving him a leg up on his moderate competitor Marco Rubio. This lead is crucial because Rubio must win his own legislature back to even have a shot at the nomination.

Bush is also tremendously popular amongst Hispanic voters. With an Latina wife, fluent Spanish and liberal immigration policy, Bush has the support of the fastest growing voter base in America.

For a candidate to win they must have money, and Jeb is certainly not lacking on that front. Wall Street views Bush as a level-headed pragmatist, a label many Republicans struggle to garner nowadays.

Many of his opponents hail from the far right though, and competitors like Scott Walker and Ted Cruz will barrade him for a ‘lack of loyalty to the party’. It is true that Bush supports common core, an education policy that federally standardizes expectations for public school students, and is typically branded as an undue expansion of government by many conservatives.

This, along with liberal immigration policy, may doom Bush to an early exit. So while Bush has said that sometimes you need to lose the primary to win the election, clearly in this case that will not be the best strategy.

Therefore, it is unclear how moderate Bush can remain while still holding the title of front-runner. This question will not start to be answered until the Iowa Caucuses in January. Iowa will also be an interesting barometer because it is centered on one-on-one interactions with voters and tends to weed out many fringe candidates.

On the podium today at Miami Dade College, Bush proclaimed, “America deserves better.” If he will be able to employ his vision for America is yet to be determined, but one thing that remains is his title as the front-runner. That is, at least for now.