Seeing that the people of Florida still have a fondness for Jeb Bush and Mark Rubio could push for serious immigration reform before he runs, I seriously think this combo would be the best to go against the Most Qualified Presidential Candidate Ever (Clinton).
Discuss…
Putting up a slate where both candidates hailed from Florida is not a terribly sensible idea. I had originally thought that it was forbidden to have two candidates from the same state, but as Snopes explains, it’s merely a very bad idea, with Florida in particular. I guess Bush could do a reverse Cheney, and move back to Texas.
I’d have thought picking Rand Paul as veep might galvanise the libertarian wing of the GOP in what would be a straight GOTV operation if Clinton was the Democratic candidate. Jim DeMint would certainly lively up the base. Condi would be a good pick as a greybeard to add experience to a Rubio ticket, but she’s denied being interested in running for national office so many times now that it’s probably true.
I have seen Tea Party blogs and many opinion pieces from them reporting that even Rubio and Bush are considered RINOS.
For sure when the election comes many of the current Republican base will go even for that ticket, but as the last election showed, many of that base still have a thing for purity and their disappointment on not having a “real” conservative as a presidential candidate will make it harder to get elected.
I think either the ticket will be moderate and deflate the tea partiers, or it will be so conservative that most independents will reject them.
Rubio and Bush will never happen. Rubio’s an intellectual lightweight (not that this is a negative for a Republican ticket) and simply el Cubanito del momento. And Bush has the enduring baggage of being a Bush. Why in the world would anyone consider this a dream ticket?
If he get’s reelected Guv in 2014 I can seriously see Scott Walker being on one side of the POTUS ticket in '16.
Bush is a toxic name, it will be generations before another one of them can run again.
This x 100.
Plus, I get the impression Rubio isn’t the sort to sit in the #2 spot for anyone.
My take on Bush is somewhat different. I expect he will run and likely has a good shot at getting the nomination. But it is still so far away any number of things could happen to change that.
The bigger problem for both of these guys, and possibly a number of other potential Republican candidates, is how the immigration issue works out. Pretty much any position short of deportation is likely to be rejected by a sizable segment of the conservative base.
Especially if someone points out that Rubio supports the automatic amnesty for any Cuban immigrant who arrives in Florida by boat.
Which carries the extra added bonus of stoking the resentment of Hispanic voters who are not Cuban. I wonder if Rubio has coaches to help him erase the Cuban accent of his Spanish when addressing a gathering of Latino Republicans outside of Florida.
This wouldn’t be allowed since the Presidential and VP candidates on a ticket have to be from different states.
Already addressed earlier in the thread. Jeb isn’t a current FL office holder, so he could just change his residence, as Cheney did in 2000.
Not true-See the Snopes link in post #2.
Would anyone believe Jeb as a resident of another state though? Cheney was a long time congressman from Wyoming, so him changing his residency wasn’t a big deal. Jeb is very well know as governor of Florida.
I stand corrected. Although the GOP definitely won’t be risking Florida’s EVs for this. A better idea would be a Bush-Huntsman or a Huntsman-Rubio ticket IMO.
“Bush” as a political brand has all the pop and appeal of Ayds diet candy.
There is no way the current Republican party would nominate a moderate like Huntsman at the top of the ticket. Inconceivable.
“Believe”? Residency is a legal status, if Jeb changes his residence, voter registration, etc. to another state, then he’s changed his residency. Whether people “believe” it or not isn’t really important.
Huntsman has about as much chance of being on the ticket as I do.
Bush is popular in Florida in a “he doesn’t suck nearly as much as the dude we’ve got now” sort of way. I’m one of his biggest non-Republican fans, and the best thing I can say about him is that he didn’t screw up anything unusually badly* and speaks Spanish really well.
Rubio is nothing more than a pretty face/token Republican brown guy. In a national campaign, he’d Palin out in minutes (assuming he didn’t already with his State of the Union response/chugging contest).
I think pkbites’ Scott Walker suggestion is much more plausible. I don’t think the union-busting rep will do him many favors in most of the swing states, though. Don’t count out Bobby Jindal, either. He’s been off the page long enough for people to have forgotten his SOTUR flop.
WaPo is calling it a Rubio/Rand Paul race. A Rand Paul nomination is just about the most wonderful thing a Democratic strategist could get for Christmas.
*Zakalwe might be along to correct me.
Having Rand Paul on the ticket might go some way to building bridges with the Paulista wing of the GOP after all the shenanigans at the RNC. He’d also raise a ton of money, which couldn’t hurt.
If they’re looking for someone who is reliably conservative but appears to be an ordinary human, then they might be looking at someone like Kelly Ayotte. Nikki Haley is one of those names that gets batted about a lot as well. I’d say Rubio is a sure thing for the top of the ticket, though. His coronation seems to have started several years ago now.
The corporatist wing of the Republican Party will finally accept that its marriage to the Troglodyte Right is a slow form of hara-kiri. They will purge the Tea Party fanatics by the simple expedient of refusing to fund them. They will further step on the oxygen tube by pressuring the rich sponsors to fall in line, because even the Koch Brothers need accounts receivable.
They wll model themselves on the ideal conservative: accepting of progress but only cautioning prudence and care, and preserving traditional values while adhering to an egalitarian ethic. They will accept, at least for the foreseeable future, the status of the Loyal Opposition while stressing the value of their input. The highest Broderism will sweep across the land and the prevailing debate in their ranks is whether or not Hunstman is too extreme. Obama and Jon Stewart will be invited to speak at their next convention…
Me? Tequila and bongwater, why do you ask?