Jeb Bush considering senate run

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — the younger brother of the president — is weighing a run for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Mel Martinez.

Martinez announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in 2010. Asked whether he was interested in running for the seat then, Bush told Politico by e-mail Tuesday night: “I am considering it.”

A source close to Bush said he'll be thoughtful and methodical about the decision-making process. He will consider the impact a race would have on his family and his business and whether or not the U.S. Senate is the best forum from which to continue his advocacy for issues such as education, immigration and GOP solutions to health care reform.

In an interview with Politico immediately after November’s election, the former governor said the Republican Party should take four primary steps to regain favor with voters: Show no tolerance for corruption, practice what it preaches about limiting the scope of government (“There should not be such a thing as a Big Government Republican”), stand for working families and small business, and embrace reform.

Bush said conservatives should “do the math of the new demographics of the United States,” explaining that the Republican Party “can’t be anti-Hispanic, anti-young person — anti many things — and be surprised when we don’t win elections.”

Since Martinez's announcement Tuesday, Bush has received many phone calls and emails from Floridians and national Republicans urging him to run, the source close to him said Tuesday night.

Bush has kept a low-profile since leaving office in 2007, but he retains a strong following among Florida Republicans and would almost certainly clear the Republican field should he decide to run.

But he's in no hurry to decide, said a top adviser, and won't make a decision until after the new year.

Should Bush decide against a run, the field is wide open for Republicans who would consider bids for the seat.

Outgoing state House Speaker Marco Rubio – a close Bush ally and Republican rising star in the Sunshine state – told Politico in an interview that he’d almost certainly run for the seat.

"If he doesn’t run, I’d find it very difficult not to run," Rubio said of the former governor.

But Rubio, like other Republicans, is respectful of the place Bush holds within the Florida GOP.

"I think Jeb Bush should run and if he does I think he’ll win," he said.

Rubio, 37, hails from Miami’s powerful Cuban-American community and would command strong support from that influential bloc in a Republican primary. He has already set up a YouTube page and will be launching his own website soon in anticipation of a potential run.

Politico

Hasn't the Bush family done ENOUGH damage to this country? I wish these Bushes would go away and stay the fuck out of politics. What's next for Jeb? President run in 2016? Please. America has had enough with the Bushes. Don't vote them in for any office. Remember what the Bushes gave us the last eight years. I might be talking to the wall here, though, because America seems to have a short memory.