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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will join presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain in Mexico City Thursday morning on the last day of McCain's three-day visit to Latin America. Gov. Bush was in Mexico City on business and wanted to spend time with the candidate. He will not spend the day with Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., who has several other events today, including a media availability this afternoon. Gov. Bush's name has been floated in Republican veepstakes chatter. On Good Morning America Wednesday, however, McCain pushed back on any talk of his vice presidential pick.

Chill out on climate change, Jeb Bush says. In comments that have stirred the blogosphere, President Bush's little brother said yesterday that those who advocate action to limit climate change are acting out of something like religious zeal. "I don't think our policies should be based on emotion; they should be based on sound science," The Associated Press quoted him as saying. Jeb Bush's comments stand in contrast to those of Charlie Crist, his successor as Florida governor and a often-mentioned GOP running-mate possibility for John McCain. Crist has said Florida should lead on fighting global warming because its low...

A government money market debacle unfolding in Florida is raising questions about former governor and presidential brother Jeb Bush's possible involvement in the mess. Florida froze withdrawals from a state investment fund earlier this week when local governments withdrew billions of dollars out of concern for the fund's financial stability. In the past few days, municipalities have withdrawn roughly $9 billion, nearly a third of the $28 billion fund (which is similar to a money market fund) controlled by the Florida's State Board of Administration (SBA). The run on the fund was triggered by worries that a percentage of the...

By JEB BUSH AND KEN MEHLMAN We support the immigration reform compromise worked out in the Senate for a few simple reasons. It strengthens our national defense. It makes our economy more competitive and flexible. It enhances the rule of law and promotes national unity. And it also does these things in a fair, practical way. The bill provides real border security for the first time, protecting us against the entry of terrorists and stemming the flow of illegal drugs. The temporary worker program will reduce the number of people trying to sneak past the border patrol, allowing law enforcement...

Non-Candidate Shows Ability to Excite the Party At a time when the conservative movement is looking bereft, humbled by midterm-election defeats and hungering for a presidential candidate to rally around, Jeb Bush delivered yesterday in Washington a resounding endorsement of conservative principles, bringing his audience repeatedly to its feet. In his lunchtime remarks to the Conservative Summit, Bush struck every conservative chord, blaming Republicans' defeat in November on the party's abandonment of tenets including limited government and fiscal restraint. "Don't take offense personally if I get mad at Congress," the Republican former Florida governor began. "It's important for us to...

Tuesday would have marked his sixth State of the Union address -- and it might have been his best yet. The nation is in great shape, President Jeb Bush would have reported: record tax cuts propelling the economy to greater heights; a revolutionary school-vouchers program for the first time granting low-income parents real education choices; and, five years after the capture of Osama bin Laden, the final 20,000 U.S. troops returning home from Iraq. The president would break into his fluent Spanish and wave at his Mexican-born wife, Columba, gazing at him from the balcony. The cameras would settle on...

Two and a half years ago I predicted George W Bush's victory in the 2004 elections as well as the subsequent ruin of his political fortune. "Many will be the night during his second term," I wrote in August 2004, "that Bush will wish he were still in Texas, and still drunk." [1] Here is a follow-on forecast: brother Jeb, about to step down as governor of the state of Florida, will be elected president of the United States in 2008, thanks in large measure to the rebound ofthe current president's standing. In fact, I have no idea whether this...

Tallahassee -- On a bright January day marked by bone-numbing 33-degree cold, Jeb Bush took office as Florida's 43rd governor with a pledge to safeguard the interests of the people, not the bureaucrats. In the ensuing eight years, Bush sent shivers through Florida's status quo as he gathered more power than any previous governor and reshaped state government to fit his vision. LocalLinks Nicknamed "King Jeb," he led with an iron will and an ideological bent, transforming what he saw as a tangle of red tape and squanderer of public money into a smaller, business-friendly administration needing fewer tax dollars...

THE STORY OF FLORIDA'S ECONOMY -- FROM JOBS TO COST OF LIVING -- IS BETTER TOLD BY PEOPLE TALLAHASSEE - What happened to Florida's economy on Gov. Jeb Bush's eight-year watch could be told by numbers: • Good ones, like almost 1.4 million more jobs in Florida now than when he took office. And a jobless rate that hit an all-time low of 3 percent during his tenure. It's a touch higher now, but still well below the national rate. • Bad ones, like a strikingly higher cost of living, mostly because of skyrocketing home insurance costs that Bush seemed...

TALLAHASSEE · With the family cat in tow, Gov. Jeb Bush headed Friday for the next chapter of his life, leaving his Capitol office for a holiday trip to South Florida with no plans to return to the office. Gov.-elect Charlie Crist takes over Jan. 2. Bush won't return to Tallahassee until that day, when he will attend Crist's inauguration. "I'm going to take some time off, hopefully do a little fishing, golfing, resting, reading, exercising. And I've got to make a living, so I'll figure it out probably in January." Bush, who has been governor since 1999, has already...

Video here: Bush 41 Breaks Down in Tears Because He Is Proud of Jeb

WINTER HAVEN - With less than three weeks remaining before the general election, Katherine Harris said Friday that she will be elected Florida's next U.S. senator despite a new poll showing she is trailing incumbent Bill Nelson by a wide margin. She also used her platform, a State Farm Insurance candidate forum, to promise the insurance workers in attendance that she would help get the state's rising insurance costs under control. "Everywhere we go we hear about the homeowners insurance crisis," Harris said. But the Longboat Key congresswoman said her opponent has ignored the issue until this campaign season. "Clearly...

Protesters corner Jeb Bush in Pa. 54 minutes ago Protesters greeted Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on his way to a campaign event for a Pennsylvania senator, and he briefly took refuge in a subway station supply closet to avoid the anti-Republican demonstrators. The president's brother encountered protesters on their way to join a demonstration outside the exclusive Duquesne Club, where Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record), a Republican, was holding a fundraiser Friday. Officers used stun guns to subdue two protesters, saying they disobeyed orders to disperse, said Bob Grove, a Port Authority spokesman. "It was a very tense...

WASHINGTON — You're traveling through another dimension; a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. It's a journey into a wondrous land where the surname Bush is glorious, and whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead -- your next stop, Florida. Older readers will recognize the words above from the introduction to the hit TV show, "The Twilight Zone." Believe it or not, there's a swing state in this country where the name Bush is not a negative. In fact, in this magical place, Republicans clamor to be seen next to this Bush....

U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris said Friday that Gov. Jeb Bush will campaign with her in the next two months, but the state GOP said no such commitment exists. Harris, appearing in downtown Orlando, said she will travel with Bush and others as she seeks to defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Nelson, meanwhile, formally kicked off his campaign Friday in Tampa, saying he wanted to "take our nation in a new direction." Touring with Bush, the state's most powerful Republican, would bring Harris badly needed credibility and steady a campaign that, at times, appeared ready to collapse. But Friday,...

TALLAHASSEE - He's a fixture on political TV ads, Web sites and glossy mailers, but he's not running for office. Jeb Bush is far and away the most heavily-promoted politician on the campaign trail in Florida in 2006 as candidates scramble for a place in the shadow of the popular governor. Bush isn't asking for your vote, because he can't seek re-election. But his consistently high approval ratings make him the gold standard for Republican candidates eager to solidify their conservative credentials. In the Republican primary race for governor, Charlie Crist and Tom Gallagher have used the words "Jeb Bush"...

TALLAHASSEE · If voters didn't know better, they might think Jeb Bush was running for office this year. The face, name and accomplishments of Florida's Republican governor are among the most frequent themes showing up in political advertising in the state this year. Across Florida, Republicans are playing the so-called Jeb card, while Democrats are disparaging his eight-year performance. In the Republican primary, Charlie Crist and Tom Gallagher are eagerly invoking Bush's name and image in TV spots, campaign Web sites, debates and stump speeches. The home pages of Crist and Gallagher's Web sites are blanketed with photos of the...

Breaking on Fox right now. "The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm could grow by Thursday into a hurricane as strong as Katrina, which struck the city a year ago Tuesday." (Story released earlier, can't find current update)

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 sent an enormously important message to politicians and educators across America: Stop making excuses for low student achievement and start holding your schools accountable for results. Florida and New York City are leaders when it comes to accountability in education. We have set high expectations for all students, and in key grades we have eliminated social promotion, the harmful practice of pushing unprepared students ahead. We grade schools based on student performance and growth so that parents and the public, as well as school administrators, know which schools are working well and...

DURHAM, N.H. --Republican incumbents Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass are holding solid leads over their Democratic challengers in races for New Hampshire's 1st and 2nd congressional districts, according to a poll released Tuesday. In the 1st District, 51 percent of residents said they have a favorable opinion of Bradley; 15 percent have an unfavorable opinion, 13 percent are neutral and 22 percent don't know enough about him to say. When likely voters are asked who they plan to vote for in November, Bradley holds comfortable leads over the two best-funded Democratic challengers, Jim Craig and Carol Shea-Porter, the poll said....

WASHINGTON, July 25 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Executive Director of The National Pro-Life Action Center, the nation's only pro-life initiative located on Capitol Hill, has responded to the expected endorsement of Jim King for Florida State Senate by Gov. Jeb Bush. Dr. Paul Chaim Schenck, the Executive Director of the Center, which is a joint project of Catholics United for Life, Priests for Life and Faith and Action (with a combined membership of over 250,000), issued the following statement - "Shame, shame on Jeb Bush for betraying the memory of Terri Schindler Schiavo by endorsing Jim King. As Senate president,...

TAMPA - Attorney General Charlie Crist may be running away with the Republican nomination in the governor's race, a new poll for The Tampa Tribune and WFLA, News Channel 8, shows. Crist leads Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher 55 percent to 24 percent among likely Republican voters surveyed last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. The race for the Democratic nomination remains wide open, however,with a majority of the Democrats surveyed undecided on whether to support U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, of Tampa, or state Sen. Rod Smith, of Alachua. Of those who chose a candidate, Davis led 29 percent to...

<p>The Orlando metro area added more than 41,000 new jobs during the 12-month period ending in June, helping the state maintain its position as one of the nation's leaders in jobs production.</p> <p>During that period, the state posted a growth rate of 3.5 percent, more than double the national average of 1.4 percent, according to data released Friday by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.</p>

July 6, 2006 Dear Concerned Republican, As you may know, the state of New Jersey is in the midst of a budget crisis that has led to a total government shutdown. This crisis in New Jersey underscores the significance of every state's fiscal policies and the potential harm those policies can have on us all when they are mismanaged, regardless of geographic location or status as a "red" or "blue" state. A major contrast exists between Florida's approach to money management and New Jersey's, and this has been made so very clear by the events of the past few days....

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush issued an executive order Tuesday suspending Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton from office pending the outcome of criminal charges stemming from an altercation Winton had with police at Miami International Airport last month. Police say an intoxicated Winton struck police at MIA after his flight was canceled May 15. He banged his head against a wall at one point, chipped one officer's tooth and kicked another officer in the groin, officials say. Winton has entered not-guilty pleas to two felony counts of battery on a police officer and a misdemeanor count of disorderly intoxication. The felony...

Winding up his second term as Florida's governor, the other Bush says he doesn't want to run for President. Not everyone believes him Fans of Florida Governor Jeb Bush often like to whisper that he, not George W., was the brother who should have been President. Jeb, they insist, is the smart one, and the more genuine conservative. So they felt especially smug last month when President Bush, on the same day his poll numbers plunged to 31%, visited Florida to tout his Medicare prescription plan with the help of Jeb, whose own numbers have hovered in the mid-50s since...

Curse of big brother stalks Jeb Bush By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 11/06/2006) He is a popular governor of a pivotal southern state, who has impressed with his leadership of hurricane relief efforts, is a charismatic speaker and a renowned policy expert - and is steeped in political campaigning. Normally, such attributes and qualifications, along with his small government, libertarian brand of conservatism, would make him a front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Dynasty: Jeb Bush’s presidential hopes have been put on hold But the governor of Florida, who has a popularity rating of 63 per...

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. - A tip for visitors to Florida this summer: Don't start talking about "dynasty" unless you want to make Jeb Bush cranky. "A day doesn't go by where someone doesn't have a great idea for what my life looks like in 2007 and beyond," the term-limited governor told reporters last week. "I'm not entertaining any discussion about it." Click to learn more... But he may be the only person in the Sunshine State not discussing it. Even though he'll remain in the governor's mansion here for another seven months, speculation already is running high about what he'll do...

IF ONLY HIS LAST NAME WERE SMITH. He'd not only attract national attention as the popular and successful governor of a difficult-to-govern state. He'd be viewed sympathetically as a leader who had dealt with family issues--his wife's aversion to politics, his daughter's bouts with drug addiction--without losing his grip on the governorship. And he'd be the prohibitive frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. But his last name is Bush. So Jeb Bush, nearing the end of his eight years as governor of Florida, has to settle for being the best governor in America. Not proclaimed the best governor...

Florida's Favorite Governor, Jeb Bush Gov. Jeb Bush told the first graduating class of this community's high school Saturday to be giving, be grateful and be humble. 'As you become adults, I hope of each of you continues giving of yourself,' he urged the 65 graduating students during a commencement address held in a courtyard outside The Villages Charter High School. The governor also said the students showed character last year when many of them helped clean up debris in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. When the students look back on that, they should 'be grateful for all the wonderful things...

Brother Jeb would make 'great' US president: Bush May 10 12:05 PM US/Eastern President George W. Bush praised his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, as an "excellent" leader who would make a "great president" of the United States, according to news accounts. "I think Jeb would be a great president. But it's up to Jeb to make a decision to run," Bush told reporters at a roundtable interview here with several Florida newspapers. "I would like to see Jeb run at some point in time, but I have no idea if that's his intention or not," said the president, in...

Bush Backs Brother Jeb for White House By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago President Bush suggested Wednesday that he'd like to see his family's White House legacy continue, perhaps with his younger brother Jeb as the chief executive. The president said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is well-suited for another office and would make "a great president." "I would like to see Jeb run at some point in time, but I have no idea if that's his intention or not," Bush said in an interview with Florida reporters, according to an account on the St. Petersburg Times Web...

Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris has dropped so low in public opinion polls she cannot beat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in November. "I just don't think she can win," Bush said at the Capitol in his strongest statement yet about his fellow Republican's struggling campaign. The governor has made no secret that he hopes House Speaker Allan Bense will challenge Harris for the Republican nomination. Harris was expected to file her qualifying papers Monday. Bense hasn't made up his mind, his wife, Tonie, said Monday from their Panama City home. The deadline for entering...

New Circuit Judge Karla Foreman Wright, left, embraces Florida Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince after Quince administered the oath during an investiture ceremony Thursday at the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow. Karen Destiny Moses, center, and her brother, Damien Foreman Moses, play with flags during Thursday’s investiture ceremony for their great aunt, Karla Foreman Wright. A group of children participated in the ceremony during the Pledge of Allegiance. BARTOW -- Karla Foreman Wright beamed Thursday as family members, friends, colleagues and well-wishers celebrated her pioneering achievements in the local judicial system. Wright is the first black circuit judge in...

DAYTONA BEACH — The unemployment rate in Volusia and Flagler counties has fallen to historic lows, leaving employers scrambling for workers. In March, the rate was 2.8 percent in Volusia and 2.6 percent in Flagler, both lower than the statewide rate of 3.1 percent, the state Agency for Workforce Innovation reported today. The March unemployement figures for Volusia and Flagler counties are the lowest ever recorded and reflect an exceedingly strong job market locally and statewide. But some counties had even lower jobless rates. Walton County, in the Florida Panhandle, had the lowest number -- 2 percent. And 12 other...

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein yesterday accelerated his drive to hold educators accountable for student achievement, announcing that New York City's more than 1,400 schools will be graded each year just like students, from A to F. Principals whose schools persistently fail could be removed, he said. Mr. Klein said schools' grades would be determined largely by a more sophisticated analysis of annual standardized test scores. In addition, officials would look at a new set of satisfaction surveys, to be completed by parents, teachers and students. Any effort to remove principals based on the new grades could require changes in...

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush made it clear Friday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Bill Nelson, regardless of who asks him to run. "No, hell no," Bush said when asked whether he would consider replacing U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris as the Republican candidate if she ends her faltering campaign to challenge the Democratic incumbent. He said he often is asked about getting into the contest. What if his brother, President Bush, called? "No. (Not even if) Pope Benedict calls," Bush responded. "I'm not doing it, trust me. I...

TALLAHASSEE — When students go to school, they usually have to go to school. That is, walk into a classroom setting, sit down with a teacher and scribble some notes while surrounded by their peers. The Internet age is changing that, and state lawmakers seem ready to jump on the wagon for good. Committees in the [FL] House and Senate advanced bills with little opposition Tuesday that would make Florida's pilot "virtual school" program a permanent reality. The [FL] state Department of Education has been paying private companies to run a pilot program that allows 800 students from kindergarten through...

...In the poll, voters give Jeb Bush a record high rating for his performance as governor. But they disagree with one of his top educational priorities: By a slim majority, they want to maintain class size limits passed in a 2002 referendum, which Bush wants to revise. Voters agree with the governor by a plurality, however, on another of his educational goals - reinstating the statewide private school tuition voucher program, which was struck down by the state Supreme Court. ...The poll, done by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. for the Tribune and News Channel 8, tapped the opinions of...

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida House passed Gov. Jeb Bush's "A-plus-plus" plan Thursday despite questions from opponents about its constitutionality. The bill, which passed 85-35, substantially revises Bush's 1999 A-plus education plan, adding subject majors for high-school students and enforcing performance-based pay for teachers. The bill now heads to the Senate... The House also approved a bill denying financial aid to foreign college students on temporary visas from all but Caribbean and Latin American countries. Amid Democrats' accusations of xenophobia, the House voted 96-23 Thursday for the proposal from Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Orange Park, which would deny state-funded financial assistance to...

March 23, 2006 -- WHAT Florida's teachers unions consider a menace, and what Florida's Supreme Court considers an affront to the state's Constitution, weighs 105 pounds, smiles shyly, speaks softly and wants to be a nurse. Octavia Lopez, 17, an 11th-grader at Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School in the heart of this polyglot city, was enabled to come to this school because of the smallest of three school-choice programs enacted under Gov. Jeb Bush. The Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) currently serves just 733 children statewide, 62 of whom are at this school .... Archbishop Curley, which in 1960 - just...

As a certified Florida teacher, I will give a brief update to those of you who do not have time to wade through all the news now coming out of the FL legislature: the GOP is doing right by teachers, students and parents, and the Dem leaders are dragging their feet, as usual. Also, speaking as an independent, it’s times like these when I can’t help but think: Good thing FL voters elected more GOP leaders in the FL House than Dem leaders, because these Dem leaders don’t seem to know anything about education, as explained below. First of all,...

Bush made numerous trips abroad to establish Florida's role in International trade. He's proud, he says, of bringing "high voltage energy" to the governor's office. .... He sought validation via his agenda, and the enduring image of Bush at work in the capital isn’t him glad-handing at an official function or presiding over a full-dress meeting in the governor’s formal chamber. Rather, it’s Bush, shirt-sleeves rolled, half-glasses perched on his nose, tapping out e-mails while hunched over a computer keyboard in the small anteroom where he prefers to work. However one views the individual pieces of his legacy, what Bush...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm sure we have all be waiting with bated breath for his latest pronouncements (yeah, right). Well, our wait has been "rewarded." Richard Gere has spoken out in praise of President Bush's stance on HIV/AIDS ahead of the President's trip to India. For those who have a strong stomach, click here to read the full story. The Indian news website, newKerala.com, reports that security at the hotel where the presidential party will be staying is at an all-time high. Click here to read the story. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas) opened the National Governors Association winter...

TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush took a rare opportunity to one-up late night talk show hosts Monday when he appeared at the Florida State Fair Governor's Day Luncheon. Like other guests, the governor was given a "No Farmers, No Food" sticker from the Florida Farm Bureau. Opening his remarks before the 1,000 or so guests gathered, Bush made a show of placing the sticker on his chest. The sticker was bright orange - like a hunting jacket. "I'm a little concerned that Dick Cheney is going to walk in," he quipped.

Bush's new foundation to focus on education Does it signal the governor's intent to keep battling for private school vouchers after leaving office? No one is saying. With his education legacy threatened by a state Supreme Court ruling against vouchers, Gov. Jeb Bush is revving up his recently resurrected private foundation to defend and tout his education achievements. "Given the Florida Supreme Court's decision, I'm worried about the future of our progress," Bush said in a recent letter seeking contributions of at least $2,000 to his Foundation for Florida's Future. "And we cannot allow future leaders to roll back the...

With the 2008 presidential election less than three years away, more than a few members of President Bush's campaign team have begun to migrate to the current GOP frontrunner, Sen. John McCain. According to Newsweek magazine, Mark McKinnon, Bush's longtime media adviser, has told the president he's ready to leap aboard McCain's "Straight Talk Express," unless brother Jeb or Condoleezza Rice change their minds and get into the race. Among Bush fundraisers, the biggest catch, says Newsweek, is Tom Loeffler, a former congressman from San Antonio, who is a Bush-family loyalist and helped build Bush's money machine in 2000. Ron...

Florida Favorite Governor, Jeb Bush GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Buoyed by low unemployment and a rising stock market, the confidence of Florida consumers reached a six-month high in January, but economists warned of an imminent decline as the housing market cools. The consumer confidence for Floridians jumped to 95 in January from 91 in December, according to a survey by the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.... "Ninety-five is historically a relatively high number," said survey director Chris McCarty. Unemployment was at 3.3 percent in December....

Florida's Favorite Governor Jeb Bush -- getting off the stage, but leaving a huge legacy LAKE BUENA VISTA - Declaring that he must "get off the stage," Gov. Jeb Bush thanked Florida Republicans on Saturday and said they will win this year if candidates run clean campaigns based on what he and the Legislature have done over seven years. About 500 state committee members, party activists and guests from across the state gathered at Walt Disney World for the start of a campaign year that finds the GOP rich and well-positioned with advantages of incumbency and momentum in voter registration....