How 2016 Could Be Clinton vs. Bush

Forget your Rand Pauls, your Ted Cruzes, and your Chris Christies—the Republican party's best hope in 2016 could very well be Jeb Bush, argues Frank Bruni in the New York Times. "Lying low in the subtropics of Florida, [Bush] has something they don’t," writes Bruni: "the unalloyed affection of many of the Republican party’s most influential moneymen, who are waiting for word on what he’ll do, hoping that he’ll seek the 2016 presidential nomination." With the exception of that whole "immigrants are more fertile" gaffe, "in a pack not exactly brimming with moderate, sensitive voices, Bush’s stands out as less strident, more reasonable, and more forward-looking than his potential rivals."

Bush is older, calmer, and more willing to compromise on fiscal matters than the rest of the field, writes Bruni. And it probably doesn't hurt that he speaks Spanish and has a Mexican-born wife. Bruni says the inside word is that there's only a 20% to 30% chance Bush will run. But though his family name is a possible liability, "if Hillary Clinton indeed rolls to the Democratic nomination, Republicans needn’t be so concerned about a nominee of their own with a dynastic aura. Clinton versus Bush would be political royalty versus political royalty." Click to read Bruni's full column. (More Jeb Bush stories.)