The Bush Bombshell

Did Chris Christie's head just explode? Did Marco Rubio's? Did Mitt's? Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, son of 41 and brother of 43, just announced that he is actively exploring the possibility of running for president and that he will establish a Leadership PAC in January, a pretty strong signal, just shy of an official announcement, that he's running in 2016.

This is a big surprise. One of my favorite political bloggers, Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, announced that he was STUNNED, and yes, he meant in all caps. Conventional wisdom before this morning appeared to be that none of the potential GOP candidates would announce before the first of the year; in addition, no one was sure Jeb was even going to run. Does he have the requisite "fire in the belly"? Is his family OK with him running? (His wife is extremely private; his daughter had some drug problems while he was governor of Florida, and former First Lady Barbara Bush famously said she didn't want him to run.) Are Americans ready for another Bush presidency? Presumably his family members are now on board, whether or not Americans are ready is another question, not to mention the fact that the thought of another Bush v. Clinton just boggles the mind. (315 millions Americans and we can't find candidates not named Bush or Clinton? Just asking.)

For political geeks the two-years-out jockeying for position just got a lot more interesting. You can read Cillizza's article here; to read some of the stuff that's making opposition researchers salivate, check out Bloomberg Politics and Mother Jones.

Days to election day: 692

Updated list of potential GOP candidates:

Potential Republican Candidates
Sam Brownback
Dr. Ben Carson
Chris Christie
Ted Cruz
Mike Huckabee
Bobby Jindall
John Kasich
Rand Paul
Mike Pence
Rick Perry
Mitt Romney
Marco Rubio
Paul Ryan
Rick Santorum
Rick Snyder
Scott Walker

Announced Leadership PAC or Exploratory Committee:
Jeb Bush

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman