But does Jeb Bush have a chance to get nominated. Can he convince enough of the party's base to vote for him to win that nomination? I have serious doubts that is possible. And I believe there are three things working against a Bush nomination. Those three things are:
1. The party was stung by the failed administration of Jeb's older brother (George Bush), and they don't want to give Democrats the advantage of campaigning against a Bush.
2. Bush has come out solidly in favor of immigration reform.
3. Bush has now come out in favor of the "common core" education standards.
Now numbers 2 and 3 might seem reasonable to most Americans, and they are. A majority of Americans know our immigration system is badly broken, and they want it reformed. And setting an adequate national standard for schools nationwide simply makes sense -- and it would help this nation to once again establish itself as a leader in education of its students.
But the Republican Party nomination is not decided by most Americans. It is decided by the base voters of the Republican Party -- a base that has moved far to the right in recent years. About 54% of the party's base nationally in made up of teabaggers and evangelicals -- two groups that vote in lock-step. And in the South, and many Western and Midwestern states, the percentage of the party's base made up of those two groups is much higher -- high enough to give them complete control of the party in those states.
And immigration reform and "common core" standards are two issues vociferously opposed by the teabaggers/evangelicals. Even if those voters could forgive Jeb Bush for being George's brother, they could never accept his stand on those two issues. The teabaggers/evangelicals are not going to vote for a moderate right-winger (like Bush, or even Christie). And that means an extremist candidate (Cruz, Paul, Huckabee, etc.) has a much better chance to be nominated.
Bush would probably be more palatable to most Americans (although I still think Hillary would beat him), and it is just that palatability that makes him unelectable in Republican primaries. The Republican Party is currently an extremist party -- and right now they have no desire to change.
(The caricature of Jeb Bush above is by DonkeyHotey.)