California Conservative

Fred Barnes’ article says that Jeb Bush would be a “strong favorite to win” Mel Martinez’ seat if he chooses to run. I’d suggest that Jeb would be the prohibitive favorite to win. If this were Vegas, they wouldn’t even offer odds on this race. If this were InTrade, it’d be the only stock sold for the Florida Senate seat.

Bush’s sudden emergence, after two years out of politics, has national significance beyond the possibility he might run for president some day. Republicans, divided and depressed after crushing election losses in 2006 and this year, need unifying leaders with broad appeal. Bush, in his eight years as Florida governor, was popular with all branches of the party. Merely as a candidate, he’d be a focus of Republican attention.

He’d also soon be the GOP leader in the Senate if he’s interested. This would be great for the GOP because he’d be a national voice for conservatives. Anytime you’re the out party in the Senate and the White House, the party struggles because (a) they don’t have the same sized megaphone as the president does and (b) everyone is trying to carve out a niche for themselves as a leader. The minute Jeb Bush gets sworn in, he’d be the guy reporters would quote.

There are other benefits to having Jeb Bush in the Senate. Another benefit is his understanding of education issues. Having a heavyweight like Jeb would give Republicans instant credibility on that important issue. Jeb’s also a fiscal hawk. We’d replace a squishy moderate who ignored the GOP’s activists on a host of issues with a conservative’s conservative.

The other thing I’d relish is seeing Jeb Bush going to-to-toe with Harry Reid. That would be a mismatch of epic proportions.

Here’s proof of Jeb Bush’s conservative leanings:

Bush is a small government conservative who often talks about having a “libertarian gene.” Neither his brother nor his father, the elder President George H.W. Bush, has anything of the kind. “There should not be such a thing as a big government Republican,” Jeb Bush told Politico after the November election, differentiating himself from his brother in a none-too-subtle way.

It’s time we distanced ourselves from the image of fiscal irresponsibility people like Ted Stevens gave the GOP. It’s time we started highlighting the fiscal restraint of Jim DeMint, Tom Coborn and, hopefully, Jeb Bush. That’s the only real path back to the majority for Republicans. If the GOP doesn’t change their image on that issue, they’ll be the minority party for a long time.

When Martinez announced his retirement, the Right Blogosphere worried that we’d lose that seat. If Jeb runs, which is sounding more likely each day, the Democrats effectively write that seat off. It’s that simple.

Technorati Tags: Jeb Bush, Senate, Reformer, Education, Policy Wonk, Fiscal Restraint, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Ted Stevens, Harry Reid, Earmarks, Election 2010

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 at 9:21 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Conservatism, Corruption, Education, Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.