GOP Frontrunner? It's not Jeb Bush

I've made it abundantly clear that I do NOT like Jeb Bush - Jebbie as I call him - a view the thought of another Bush in the White House as both frightening and nauseating.  Fortunately, Jebbie is seemingly not getting the automatic coronation that he wants and expects once he formally announces.  He faces numerous problems that include his brother's toxic legacy and his refusal - at least so far - to fully buy into the racism and religious extremism that are now prerequisites to winning the delusional party base.  A piece in Politico looks at the challenges Jebbie likely faces.  Here are excerpts:

With one well-received January speech in Iowa, Scott Walker shot to the top of the polls. After a successful campaign launch, Marco Rubio is slowly gaining ground with donors and with conservatives who see a candidate with an inspiring biography and exceptional skills as a communicator.

Yet it’s Jeb Bush who’s frequently described as the frontrunner in a crowded field of more than a dozen Republican candidates. The reality is that he’s not — at this stage in the nominating contest, no one is.

Bush, the former Florida governor who hasn’t held office in 14 years, seemed impressive right out of the gate with his sudden, aggressive moves last November. He sent strong enough signals to box out Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee who’d been toying with a third run for the White House, began securing commitments from GOP operatives to work on his eventual campaign and from the donors needed to fund it.

Based on the early show of strength, Bush was anointed the “clear Republican frontrunner” last December, referencing a poll showing him leading the field with 23 percent of the overall Republican vote nationwide.

From his position on Common Core to immigration reform to his family name, it’s become abundantly clear Bush has a lot to overcome. For all the substance and thoughtfulness he’s brought to the enterprise to date, many Republicans simply hunger for a younger, fresher face — and more ardently conservative stances from the party’s next standard bearer.

“No voter has ever raced to put a bumper sticker on their car because a candidate has the most money and best organization,” said Kevin Madden, a GOP strategist who advised Mitt Romney in 2012. “They want someone with a bold vision who can provide a new direction and offer a stark contrast to Hillary Clinton.”

“It’s going to be tough for Bush to be the shiny new thing in the way that a Rubio or a Walker could be,” said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire.

After holding forth for nearly an hour and demonstrating fluency on a range of policy areas, Bush met the press in a small room down the hall; the questions focused on nagging political issues – the Bush brand and whether Rubio, who Bush mentored as a young Florida lawmaker, stabbed his friend in the back by entering the presidential race.

“Can you compare your foreign policy approach to your brother’s?” asked one reporter.  “No,” Bush replied. . . . . It’s not a question Bush will be able to avoid. 

Few doubt Bush, who’s expected to raise more money than any other candidate in the field, is built for the long haul. His ability to build a broader, more diverse coalition and his resources will enable him to run a campaign in much larger and more expensive states like Florida — where a week of TV ads airing statewide will run at least $3 million.

But first he must run the early state gauntlet, where the conservative grass roots in states like Iowa and South Carolina aren’t yet enamored of him. That makes New Hampshire, where Bush is better situated, a critical test. At the moment, Bush trails Walker in the polls in all of those three states.