Politics

Jeb Bush Will Run Again

June 8, 2001 / 12:23 PM EDT / AP

Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday he intends to run for re-election in 2002.

Bush spoke briefly about his decision while answering reporters' questions after visiting an elementary school in his hometown.

"I look forward to announcing my candidacy in a formal way later on," Bush said.

For months, Bush had said he would make his intentions about seeking a second term known in June. He was elected governor overwhelmingly in 1998.

"There's a window of opportunity in our state to really change the things that need to be changed — protection of the environment, delivery of social services in a compassionate way, tax relief for small businesses, reforming our education system and making sure it's our first priority," Bush said.

The decision comes as a growing list of Democrats have said they will challenge the 48-year-old governor, who came under fire last year because of the disputed Florida election that made his brother president of the United States.

The list of possible candidates includes former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno of Miami; U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson, a former Panhandle congressman; and Bill McBride, a Tampa attorney who stepped down as manager of Florida's biggest law firm this week to run for governor.

"You've got a great field of candidates who have a tremendous amount of credibility. They wouldn't be in these waters if they didn't smell blood," said state Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe.

Bush had said that his family would be the primary factor in his decision.

"After the legislative session I had a chance to spend some time with my family and with my wife, who has been completely supportive of this, and I believe that we have unfinished business," Bush said.

Bush's brother, President George W. Bush, dropped a hint on the governor's plans earlier in the week during a swing through Florida.

At an event in Tampa, President Bush referred to his younger brother as the "current governor and the future governor" of Florida.

Gov. Bush was encouraged to run again by a partisan Republican group at a rally to celebrate President Bush's tax cut.

When Jeb Bush took the podium, the crowd chanted "four more years," bringing a smile to the governor's face.

Bush had hinted to his friends in recent weeks that he was ready to seek another term, said House Speaker Tom Feeney, who is close to Bush and was his running mate during a failed 1994 run at the governorship.

At a wedding reception in Jacksonville a few weeks ago, Bush was talking privately with supporters and it was obvious he wanted to run again, Feeney said.

"He started talking about (the upcoming race) and not about somebody's campaign in the third person," Feeney said. "It was just the tone in his voice. He was starting to campaign."

Feeney and other top Republicans have urged Bush to run to solidify some of the changes that he's made, including an overhaul of the school system that grades schools on performance of studens and ties funding to the grades, and allows students in failing public schools to get vouchers to attend private schools.

Feeney said he has asked Bush to run on more than one occasion.

The decision sets up a high-profile governor's race in a state which had its politics thrust onto the national stage last winter during the dispute over who won the razor-thin presidential race.

"It's the number one race nationally, even more so than the governorships of New York and California," said Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Governmental Studies. "Everybody is watching because everybody knows who he is ... everybody has a searing recollection of the Florida recount in 2000."