Word: jeb
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...factors make his denial more plausible than some would assume. Although Jeb, 53, will likely depart as one of America's most popular governors and one of the GOP's most potent figures, a bid to replace his brother in the White House could leave most voters with the impression that the Bushes are trying to be not just a political dynasty, but royalty. Better, the thinking goes, for Jeb to wait until 2012 or 2016. Another reason is personal: friends and aides say Jeb's family, especially his wife Columba and daughter Noelle, who is recovering from drug addiction...
...beneath the surface of Jeb's solid approval ratings lies another consideration. For all the acclaim he gets in conservative circles, there are still questions as to whether his record in Florida - which in reality has been a cycle of sunshine and tropical depressions, from pioneering accomplishments like Medicaid reform to embarrassing debacles like the Terri Schiavo spectacle - could survive the brutal scrutiny of a White House campaign...
...fact, Jeb's own party may be asking that very question. The Republican-led Florida legislature recently handed him a string of humiliating defeats, two of them involving education policy, which is expected to be one of the Governor's strongest legacies. Even the state Senate majority leader voted to kill Jeb's attempts to undo the school class-size limits that Floridians had earlier approved in a referendum - Jeb called them too expensive - as well as his efforts to revive his school vouchers program, which the state Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional last year. Some Florida GOP bosses...
...That fit of pique was another reminder that Jeb's notoriously thin skin is another large part of his legacy - and a potential problem in any presidential bid. Thom Rumberger, a GOP attorney and Jeb friend, calls him "the brightest Governor in this state's history. But to be President he'll need a little moderation and willingness to accept counsel once in a while instead of the my-way-or-the-highway approach he's prone...
...doesn't "mind losing when it's based on principles." Aides say he wants his governorship to be known more for what he calls the "B-HAGs" - big, hairy, audacious goals - and few Republican Governors have ever turned a state into the conservative policy laboratory and bellwether that Jeb has made Florida, hanging chads...