Since last December, Jeb Bush has tried to scare off second-tier challengers for the presidential nomination by uniting the GOP's fundraising establishment behind his candidacy. But despite his best efforts and commitments from Henry Kravis and Woody Johnson, the Washington Post reported today that Marco Rubio has a few deep-pocketed fanboys who will fund his presidential campaign with just a handful of eight-figure contributions.
Leaving aside the travesty that allows small groups of rich men to choose and sponsor pet presidential candidates, this show of strength from Rubio is disappointing. That's because Jeb is the best thing that can happen to Democrats in 2016. Rubio is the worst.
A single party has been elected to three consecutive presidential terms only one out of the six times it could have happened since World War II. After eight years, America's political mind gets tired of hearing the same ideas and rhetoric all the time and is easily persuaded to take a new course. As well-funded and well-known as Hillary is, and as favorable to Democrats the electoral map and likely voter demographics are in presidential years, as a household name since 1992 she is especially vulnerable to the charge that she is just more of the same.
As Mike Allen recently wrote, Jeb looks a lot like his brother, talks a lot like his brother, and appears to want to make policy a lot like his brother. If the Republicans nominate him to challenge Hillary, they will give away their biggest advantage. Hillary will win, Obama's legacy will be preserved, and I will be able to die happy.
Alas, Rubio. He is obviously smart, substantive, handsome, and Latino. He is politically talented enough to refuse to say he believes in evolution without sounding like a nutjob. If he wins the right to face Hillary, the contrast between his profile and Hillary's baggage will double the GOP's built-in 2016 messaging advantage. There will never be a "Republican Obama," but Rubio would be as close as it gets.
In recent weeks I'd been hoping that Jeb's financial show of force would choke off financing to Rubio and keep him from running a national campaign. It looks like we're not that lucky.
And in case I still thought I was lucky, it looks like Hillary might be launching her campaign while under investigation.
Fired up! Ready to go! (sigh).