Free Republic

After starting 2015 as the presumptive front-runner with a huge bankroll, Jeb Bush has to be ending the year wondering what went wrong with his presidential campaign, what happened to his Republican Party and where all his money went. Mr. Bush and his super PAC burned through more than half of the $133 million they raised in the first three quarters this year. The return on that investment has been a drop in polls from about 15 percent when he entered the race in June to about 4 percent in recent surveys. "He has not been a great candidate and...

"If you want someone who can fix the damn things that exist in this country, I am your guy, and I don't think thats low-energy." Jeb Bush says he doesn't care about Donald Trump calling him "low-energy," and cited a 16-hour work day as evidence of his energy levels. "I don't care about, I don't care about that," the former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate said on the show Wall Street Week over the weekend. "I work 16-hour days. My wife doesn't care about that, she could think of a lot worse thing to say..."

Is Jeb Bush secretly preparing to support the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination? According to a report in Politico, Bush may go rogue and issue a public statement announcing his refusal to back the GOP front-runner if Trump is the eventual nominee. According to two sources close to the Bush campaign, senior aides are now examining whether such a statement by Bush would disqualify him from certain state primary ballots, some of which demand candidates sign a loyalty pledge declaring that they will support the eventual Republican Party nominee, reports Politico. Trump responded...

Three generations of the most famous family in Texas politics are planning to descend on Houston in the coming days to rally with major donors to Jeb Bush's presidential campaign — and try to raise more money for the former Florida governor. The weekend gathering, once billed as a "special appreciation event" for Jeb Bush's biggest financial backers, comes at a precarious time for his White House hopes. His campaign announced Friday it was making significant cutbacks, reportedly reducing its payroll by 40 percent, trimming travel costs by 20 percent and scaling back 45 percent on some other costs. Jeb...

A new Internet-ad by Jeb Bush’s independent PAC erases fourth-place challenger Carly Fiorina from the GOP’s 2016 line-up. The 15-second ad shows Bush’s eight male rivals — Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ben Carson, etc. — but noticeably excludes the one woman in the race. That’s unexpected, because Fiorina currently leads fifth-place Bush, 8.9 percent to 7.1 percent, in RCP’s average of primary polls, following Fiorina’s highly rated performance in the GOP’s second debate. “Maybe Jeb is just trying to forget the last debate?,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, Fiorina’s deputy campaign manager. “Or maybe they can’t read New Hampshire...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Thursday that he found it “troubling” that the 2012 presidential candidates are “appealing to people’s fears and emotion” on the campaign trail, according to reports. Bush expressed concern about the type of rhetoric that the candidates were using, without getting specific or naming names. “I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective...