All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Barack Obama wouldn’t have been elected had he "let us in on his secret plan prior to the election," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in an interview with Esquire.

"Had he said what he was going to do as a candidate, [Obama] would have lost," Bush said. The former governor was most critical of the president’s spending practices, including the economic stimulus bill, as well as his "cap and trade" policy to regulate greenhouse gases.

Bush also played down the president's current popularity and suggested "there will be a push back." He told interviewer Tucker Carlson that his brother, former president George W. Bush, was more popular during his first 100 days than Mr. Obama.

"His popularity is no greater — in fact it's less — than what my brother's was during the beginning of his tenure, in a time of unbelievable friction," Bush said of the current president. "His approval ratings were higher than Barack Obama's during his first one hundred days."

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Unwilling to rely exclusively on RNC chairman Michael Steele's promise to transform the Republican Party into one that reaches "hip hop" voters, a group of GOP bigwigs are starting their own group aimed at bolstering the conservative movement.

Senator John McCain, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Governor Mitt Romney, Representative Eric Cantor, and Governor Bobby Jindal are among the Republican heavyweights involved in the launch of the newly created National Council for New America (NCNA). The NCNA sent out a letter from Rep. Cantor's office outlining its mission earlier today and will make a kickoff announcement later this afternoon, the Washington Post reports.

According to the letter, the group will organize a series of town halls and online forums involving average Americans and Republican leaders. The NCNA hopes that these grassroots efforts will spark an ongoing dialogue about the direction of the country. The announcement letter contains a policy blueprint that eschews social issues such as abortion and gay marriage in favor of developing solutions to issues like health care, energy, and education.

"While we will be guided by our principles of freedom and security, we will seek to include more than just our ideas," the group's letter says. "This forum will include a wide open policy debate that every American can feel free to participate in. We do this not just to offer an alternative point of view or to be disagreeable. Instead, we want to ask the American people what their hopes and dreams are."

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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that he won’t run for Senate in 2010. President Bush’s younger brother had been a rumored candidate for the seat to replace Republican Mel Martinez, who is retiring after one term in the Senate.

“While the opportunity to serve my state and country during these turbulent and dynamic times is compelling, now is not the right time to return to elected office,” Bush said in a statement.

Bush was governor of Florida from 1999-2007 and remains popular in the state. He struck a bipartisan note in his announcement that he would not run for Martinez’s seat.

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