[caltrop]

While I see Bush's point, and obvious desire to help Reno, all he's doing is reminding Democrats he doesn't want to run against McBride. Bush's TV attacks on McBride in August are part of the reason McBride gained traction in the first place. Bush should go back to praying the Democrats self-destruct and nominate Reno. IMHO, Bush's efforts to stop McBride are, and have been, counterproductive.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Counterproductive? If McBride has momentum, then it is only prudent to prepare for a race against him now. Almost everyone has a good idea of the real story of Reno, so she's not going to fool to many voters, and won't be too much trouble for Bush to defeat. But Dems usually win swing voters by fooling them into thinking that they are more conservative than they actually are. Thus exposing McBride as a pandering phoney should be done now. Waiting until after the primary may not leave enough time for the message to be recognized, understood, and accepted. Soften him up now, so future blows will be more likely to deliver the knockout.

Further, in the general, much of these charges will be ignored or obfuscated by the media. But when it involves issues that separate the Dem primary candidates, it is much harder for the media to ignore these issues. So some charges that the media wouldn't follow up on in the general are more likely to be examined now. Smart move on Jeb's part.

What I really suspect is that if Jeb didn't go after McBride right now, all the anti-Jebs would later come back and whine how Jeb blew an opportunity to go after him. I read it all the time about W or candidate X, all kinds of moaning about how those "RINO's" are too passive and don't have the killer instinct. Methinks some argue out of both sides of their mouths.

[patriciaruth]

While I see Bush's point, and obvious desire to help Reno, all he's doing is reminding Democrats he doesn't want to run against McBride. Bush's TV attacks on McBride in August are part of the reason McBride gained traction in the first place.

Oh, McBride may have gained some name recognition and credibility with some due to Jeb Bush's attack ads, but basically it's good politics to try to discredit early your strongest potential opponent. Worked well for Davis when he knocked Los Angeles Mayor Riordan out of the race in the California primary. And Nixon knocked Senator Muskee out of the Democrat primary with dirty tricks and thus ended up running against the weakest opponent, McGovern.

These tactics have been in the play book for a long time and generally they work.