Fox News: Rick Scott Suspends Broward’s Snipes

Roy Moore Campaign: Mitch McConnell, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney Responsible for Feeding Accusations to WaPo

Fmr. Bush Campaign Chair: ‘Little or No Enthusiasm’ for Hillary in the Minority Community

CNN: Donald Trump wins South Carolina; Hillary Clinton takes Nevada - Jeb Suspends Campaign

By Stephen Collinson and Maeve Reston, Feb. 20, 2016, CNN

(CNN)Donald Trump has won the South Carolina Republican primary, a tremendous show of strength in the heart of the Deep South that validates his status as the GOP's national front-runner.

Trump's win, following his victory in New Hampshire earlier this month and a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, gives the former reality television star a critical burst of momentum heading into Nevada's Republican caucuses Tuesday and the slate of 13 states voting on Super Tuesday, March 1.

And the Republican presidential pack shrank to five as Jeb Bush said he is suspending his campaign after a poor showing in South Carolina.

Trump's performance could unnerve the Republican establishment, since South Carolina has sided with the eventual nominee in every GOP presidential race since 1980, apart from 2012. And, following his risky attack on George W. Bush's handling of terrorism and the Iraq War, Trump's win provides more evidence that he can take positions that would undermine virtually any other politician.

"I want to begin by thanking the people of South Carolina," Trump said in a victory speech. "This is a special night."

More: www.cnn.com

USA Today: Reports show early Wall Street support for Jeb Bush

By Fredreka Schouten, Jul. 16, 2015, USA Today

WASHINGTON — The first ballots won't be cast for months, but Wall Street already seems to be signaling its support for Republican Jeb Bush, new campaign finance reports show.

The former Florida governor, who served until late last year as an adviser to the British bank Barclays, raised $144,900 from employees of Goldman Sachs during the first two weeks of his presidential bid, according to his filing Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, one of Bush's main rivals for support from the Republican establishment, raised far less — about $55,000 — from Goldman executives since entering the race in April.

Other signs of support for Bush from the financial sector: More than $65,000 of his haul came from employees of Neuberger Berman, an investment firm run by Bush's cousin George Walker. Another $29,700 came from Barclays employees. William Killmer, a top lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, meanwhile, raised more than $36,000 on Bush's behalf.

More: www.usatoday.com

Huffington Post: 'Space Guy' Jeb Bush Would Increase Funding To NASA

By Igor Bobic, Jul. 8, 2015, Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- If elected president in 2016, Jeb Bush would propose an increase in funding to NASA.

"I'm a space guy," Bush said in a Wednesday sit-down with the New Hampshire Union Leader's editorial board.

The former of governor of Florida, where a large portion of the country's aerospace industry resides, said he would also support increasing federal spending on research and development.

The Obama administration proposed a half-billion dollar increase to NASA's budget earlier this year, totaling $18.5 billion for fiscal year 2016. That request could run aground in the Republican-controlled Congress, where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a presidential candidate and the chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness, feels that a reordering of the space agency is in order.

More: www.huffingtonpost.com

Salon: Bush vs. Trump: The GOP’s Border War

By John Dickerson, Jul. 7, 2015, Slate.com

Donald Trump and Jeb Bush are locked in mutual antipathy over the question of immigration. Their sparring stems from Trump’s remarks at his June 16 presidential announcement about the kinds of people who come to America from Mexico.

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems ... they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Trump has since stood by those remarks even as companies from NBC to NASCAR have cut their business ties with the real estate tycoon. Friday, Trump pointed to the death of a San Francisco woman, Kate Steinle, the victim of a random shooting by an undocumented worker, as proof of his claim.

Bush, several weeks after Trump’s original remarks, joined a chorus of GOP voices distancing themselves from Trump. The former Florida governor said Trump’s remarks were “extraordinarily ugly” and “not reflective of the Republican Party.” Bush also speculated about Trump’s motives. “He’s doing this to inflame and incite and to draw attention, which seems to be the organizing principle of his campaign.”

More: www.slate.com

MSNBC: Donald Trump calls Jeb Bush ‘out of touch’ on immigration

By Rachel Kleinman, Jul. 5, 2015, MSNBC

Donald Trump isn’t taking fellow Republican Jeb Bush’s criticism lying down.

Since the billionaire businessman uttered several deeply offensive remarks about Mexican immigrants, few of his 2016 presidential primary opponents have weighed in on the subsequent controversy. One notable exception? Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush, whose wife is from Mexico and whose children are Mexican-American, addressed the issue after a campaign speech in Nevada, notably speaking in Spanish for those directly affected to hear.

“I do not agree with his words,” Bush said in Spanish during a campaign event in Nevada. “They do not represent the values of the Republican Party and they do not represent my values.”

More: www.msnbc.com

NBC: First Read: Jeb Bush Leads the GOP Pack

By Meet The Press, Jun. 22, 2015, NBC

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.

Jeb leads the GOP pack

A brand-new national NBC/WSJ poll finds Jeb Bush leading the crowded Republican presidential field, with 22% of GOP primary voters saying he's their first choice. He's followed by Scott Walker at 17%, Marco Rubio at 14%, and Ben Carson at 11%. While Jeb had a similar five-point lead in our April NBC/WSJ poll, you see his current position has strengthened when you look inside the numbers of this new poll. (It was conducted during the buildup and coverage of Bush's official presidential announcement on June 16.) The latest survey shows him ahead among self-identified conservative GOP primary voters -- when he was in third place in April behind Rubio and Walker. And as we unveiled on Sunday, 75% of Republican primary voters in our new poll say they could see themselves supporting Bush -- up from 70% in April and 49% in March. Bottom line: While Jeb has plenty of potential problems to overcome (his last name, his positions on immigration and Common Core, his desire to run a general-election campaign instead of one aimed at GOP primary voters), this poll is very good news for him.

Who gets left off that first debate stage?

The NBC/WSJ poll measured 16 GOP candidates in our horserace question. And here are the 10 Republicans who make our poll's Top 10 -- the criteria being used for the first GOP debate in August -- and the six who get left off:

1. Jeb Bush 22%
2. Scott Walker 17%
3. Marco Rubio 14%
4. Ben Carson 11%
5. Mike Huckabee 9%
6. Rand Paul 7%
7. Rick Perry 5%
8. Ted Cruz 4%
9. Chris Christie 4%
10. Carly Fiorina 2%
11. Donald Trump 1%
12. Lindsey Graham 1%
13. John Kasich 1%
14. Bobby Jindal 0%
15. Rick Santorum 0%
16. George Pataki 0%

More: www.nbcnews.com

OANN/Reuters: Bush Rejects Rubio Swipe That Governors Not Ready To Run U.S. Foreign Policy

Source: Gage Skidmore/Flikr

By Steve Holland, Jun. 21, 2015, OANN/Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Thursday rejected a contention from Republican rival Marco Rubio that a governor would not be able to manage U.S. foreign policy if elected president in an early sign of their 2016 battle to come.

Bush, who is exploring a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, sought to allay concerns about his conservative credentials at a forum run by a conservative magazine, National Review.

Rubio, a first-term Florida senator, has gained some early momentum in his own race for the Republican nomination for the 2016 election by touting his foreign policy credentials, which includes membership on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Governors can certainly read about foreign policy, and take briefings and meet with experts, but there is no way they’ll be ready on Day One to manage U.S. foreign policy,” Rubio told the Des Moines Register last weekend.

More: www.oann.com

ABC News: Jeb Bush Announces 2016 Presidential Campaign: 'I Will Run To Win'

By Candice Smith, Jun. 15, 2015, ABC News

Today, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush put an end today to months of speculation and announced his 2016 presidential campaign.

"We are 17 months from the time for choosing," Bush told a cheering audience in Miami. "The stakes for America’s future are about as great as they come. Our prosperity and our security are in the balance. So is opportunity, in this nation where every life matters and everyone has the right to rise."

In attendance were members of his family, including wife, Columba, his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, his children and their spouses, and all of his grandchildren. His brothers, Neil and Marvin Bush and their wives also were in attendance. The two former presidents in the Bush family -- George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush -- were not on hand for the event though Bush tweeted a photo of himself calling his father before his speech:

More: www.abcnews.go.com

Bloomberg: Iowa Poll: Bill and George W. May Not Hurt Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush

By David Knowles, June 3, 2015, Bloomberg

The nation's next president may well be advised by a former one. For the most part, that prospect doesn't seem to trouble Iowa caucus-goers.

Fifty-seven percent of likely Republican caucus-goers in a new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll said that it would be “mostly good” for Jeb Bush's presidency if he were to tap his older brother, George, as a close adviser. Thirty-three percent said such an arrangement would be “mostly bad” for Jeb Bush's presidency.

As for Hillary Clinton, a whopping 83 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers approved of the idea of her using her husband, Bill, as a close adviser, while just 9 percent said doing so was a “mostly bad” suggestion for her presidency.

More: www.bloomberg.com

Newsmax: Jeb Bush: My Name Is Bush — Get Over It

Rebecca Cook / Reuters

By Courtney Coren, May 21, 2015, Newsmax

Presidential hopeful and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has a message for those who want to make an issue out of his last name — get over it.

"I love my mom and dad," Bush said at the opening of a round-table event in New Hampshire, The New York Times reported. "I love my brother, and people are just going to have to get over that. That’s just the way it is."

The issue of Bush's last name and lineage, with a father and a brother who have both served as presidents, has been a topic he has addressed a number of times.

While the Florida Republican has made it clear that he has a lot of love for his family, he has also declared that he is his "own man" with his own ideas.

"I have a life journey, my own — one that sets me apart in some ways," he told the round-table group.

Later on, when talking to reporters, he said, "I'm a Bush, I'm proud of it," then added, "Like what am I supposed to say?"

More:  www.newsmax.com

Politico: Bush v. Bush

The aides and confidants who helped steer the George W. Bush White House aren’t pleased by Jeb Bush’s bungled remarks on Iraq. And they are saying so publicly

By Alex Isenstadt, May 21, 2015, Politico

Jeb Bush is trying to put out the fire over his bobbled answers on whether the United States was right to invade Iraq, but there’s a group of people fanning the flames: His brother’s top advisers.

In TV appearances, magazine articles and interviews, the aides and confidants who helped steer the George W. Bush White House have criticized, tweaked and prodded Jeb Bush — some more harshly than others — over his bungled remarks, which have presented the former Florida governor with the first major PR crisis of his soon-to-be announced presidential campaign.

While Jeb Bush’s team tried to calm the furor, the critiques from George W. Bush’s team helped keep the firestorm alive. “I don’t know why he said what he did,” Ari Fleischer, who as press secretary became one of the most prominent faces of the Bush White House, told BuzzFeed.

More: www.politico.com

CNN: The dirty little secret of 2016 announcements

By Dana Bush, CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent, May 18, 2015, CNN

Washington (CNN)Republicans like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are criss-crossing early primary states, doing TV interviews on their policy positions and meeting with campaign donors.

But they are not running for president. Not technically, anyway.

That's why when Jeb Bush accidentally said last week he was running, he quickly slipped in a correction - "if I run."

Of course he's running, but there's one overriding reason for Bush to be coy: money.

The dirty little secret of the 2016 campaign is that would-be candidates like Bush and Walker in particular can use super PACs, campaign accounts that allow unlimited contributions, to raise millions of dollars as long as they aren't official candidates. Until someone like Bush, Walker or New Jersey Gov. Christie formally declares for president, they are legally permitted to personally ask for money for a super PAC that will ultimately benefit their campaign. But once they formally acknowledge their candidacy, a legal wall goes up between the candidate and the super PAC that supports them.

More: www.cnn.com

MSNBC: Oops: Jeb Bush accidentally says he’s ‘running for president’

By Benjy Sarlin, May 13, 2015, MSNBC

Jeb Bush accidentally said he was running for president on Wednesday, a move that would trigger major restrictions on his fundraising, before quickly correcting himself.

“I’m running for president in 2016 and the focus is going to be on how we – if I run – how we create high sustained economic growth where more people have a chance to earn success,” the Republican told reporters in Nevada.

It was a slip from Bush’s usual language, which typically refer to his plans if he goes “beyond the consideration” and takes the plunge.

Bush spoke late Wednesday to the Clark County GOP dinner in Las Vegas – offering what has become a standard speech for his non-campaign appearances in early states. He didn’t address the controversy over his recent Iraq War comments, nor did he mention his brother, George W. Bush, though he discussed his parents. He also didn’t mention his comments from earlier Wednesday when he seemed to say he was running. “I am not a candidate,” he said at one point during the speech.

More:  www.msnbc.com

Breitbart / Bloomberg: ‘Clinton Cash’ Author Peter Schweizer Is Targeting Jeb Bush Next

Source:  Amazon.com

By Joshua Green, Breitbart News / Bloomberg, Apr. 23, 2015, Breitbart.com

The past week can’t have been very pleasant for Peter Schweizer. On Sunday, the New York Times revealed that his forthcoming book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, was roiling the political world—“the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy,” as the Times put it.

That landed Schweizer squarely in the crosshairs of the Clinton team and allied liberal groups, which have launched a campaign to discredit Schweizer as “disreputable” and blinded by partisan animosity. Anyone familiar with Schweizer’s work knows better: he wrote a well-regarded book about the Bush dynasty and another, detailing insider trading in Congress, that led to a new law, the bipartisan STOCK Act of 2012, which aims to curb these abuses.

That hasn’t quieted the left-wing clamor that Schweizer is simply out to get Hillary Clinton. But maybe this will: Schweizer is working on a similar investigation of Jeb Bush’s finances that he expects to publish this summer.

More:  www.breitbart.com

Roll Call: The What Ifs of the 2016 GOP Presidential Race

By Stuart Rothenberg, Apr. 16, 2015, RollCall.com

If Jeb Bush doesn’t win any of the first four GOP contests — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — does that eliminate him from the Republican race? Or does he have the staying power to survive those losses?

If Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finishes first in the Iowa caucuses, does that all but eliminate hopefuls such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Ben Carson from the race?

If Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul finishes fourth in Iowa (which would be worse than his father’s third-place showing in the caucuses in 2012), can he come back in New Hampshire or Nevada? Are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a mini-contest of their own, with only one able to survive the February contests?

We all love to “game out” crowded presidential contests, just like we do football games, the stock market and future episodes of “Homeland.” It’s fun, after all, and if we get things right we can smugly point to our great analysis and instincts.

But when I was speaking recently to a veteran Republican consultant (who will be deeply involved in the race) about various possible scenarios, he brought me back to reality with three short words: Don’t do it.

More:  www.blogs.rollcall.com

Reuters: Republican hopefuls target middle-class insecurity as economy improves

By James Oliphant and Andy Sullivan, Apr. 19, 2015, Reuters

(Reuters) - Facing a recovering economy and a tumbling jobless rate, Republican presidential candidates honing their economic message are trying tap into a lingering sense of insecurity among Americans seven years after the global financial crisis.

And some are striking a sympathetic tone with lower-income workers in a way that contrasts with four years ago when Mitt Romney struggled to overcome perceptions that he was largely the candidate of the wealthiest Americans. Then, Republican nominee Romney had the luxury of being able to hammer President Barack Obama with an unemployment rate of more than 8 percent.

Now, with the jobless rate at 5.5 percent, the 18 Republican White House hopefuls who gathered this weekend in the key early primary state of New Hampshire faced the challenge of arguing the country needs new economic stewardship even as the worst of the downtown has passed.

More:  www.reuters.com

PR Newswire: "Jeb Bush's Elephant In The Room Is Role In Slow-Walking Bush V Gore Recount" Says Des Moines Register

By National Democratic Strategist Bob Weiner and Policy Analyst Daniel Wallace, Apr. 16, 2015, PR Newswire

WASHINGTON and DES MOINES, Iowa, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jeb Bush's role in slow-walking the Bush v Gore recount is the "Elephant in the Room" for 2016, say national Democratic strategist and former Clinton White House staffer Robert Weiner, and policy analyst Daniel Wallace, in an article in today's The Des Moines Register. They contend that 2016 campaign media has ignored questions on Bush's role, documented in the article from phone logs and emails, in slow-walking the 2000 election recount, and suppressing Democratic votes earlier, until the election was stopped by the Supreme Court.

"The Florida governor's office in Tallahassee made 95 telephone calls to the George W. Bush presidential campaign, its advisors, lawyers and staffers during the 36-day recount period, records show," Weiner and Wallace point out in an article titled "Jeb Bush's Elephant in the Room: Role in Bush v. Gore Recount" published in the Des Moines Register on April 16. The authors demonstrate the true extent of Jeb Bush's hand in the infamous final-hours recount of the Florida vote in the 2000 Bush v Gore election.

Despite his staff at the time saying Bush "recused" himself from the events, the article also includes a telling email from Jeb Bush to future Chief Justice appointee by George W. Bush, John Roberts, thanking him for legal advice during the recount, a week before the Supreme Court decision to stop it. "Thank you for your time today. I really appreciate your input on my role in this unique and historic situation," he wrote. The email from December 6, 2000, was in the batch recently released by Bush operatives in the run-up to this year's presidential campaign.

More: www.prnewswire.com