Jeb Bush announces run for president in 2016

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Jeb Bush announces run for president in 2016
Associated Press/Ynetnews/Published: 06.15.15 / Israel News

Former Florida governor, son of 41st US president and brother of 43rd president, launches Republican presidential bid, vowing to get Washington ‘out of the business of causing problems’.Jeb Bush launched a Republican presidential bid Monday with a vow to get Washington “out of the business of causing problems” and to stay true to his beliefs, which is easier said than done in a crowded primary contest where his conservative credentials will be sharply challenged. “I will campaign as I would serve, going everywhere, speaking to everyone, keeping my word, facing the issues without flinching,” Bush said in excerpts of a speech released by his campaign before his afternoon announcement.

In an unusual twist for a political speech aimed at a national audience, Bush, who is bilingual, planned to speak partly in Spanish. The former Florida governor has made minority outreach a priority.  In a video for the event, showing women, minorities and a disabled child, Bush says “the most vulnerable in our society should be in the front of the line and not the back.” This calls for “new leadership that takes conservative principles and applies them so that people can rise up.” Neither his father, former President George H.W. Bush, nor his brother, former President George W. Bush, was expected to attend. The family was to be represented instead by Jeb Bush’s mother and former first lady, Barbara Bush, who once said that the country didn’t need yet another Bush as president.

Before the event, the Bush campaign came out with a new logo – Jeb! – that leaves out the Bush surname. Bush joins the race in some ways in a commanding position. He has probably raised a record amount of money to support his candidacy.

But in early public opinion polls, he has yet to break out. The large and capable Republican field does not have a true front-runner.  Bush has made clear he will remain committed to his core beliefs in the campaign to come, even if his positions on immigration and education standards are deeply unpopular among the most conservative of Republicans. Tea party leader Mark Meckler on Monday said Bush’s positions on education and immigration are “a nonstarter with many conservatives.”

Yet a defiant Bush has showed little willingness to placate his party’s right wing. “I’m not going to change who I am,” Bush said as he completed a European trip on the weekend. “I respect people who may not agree with me, but I’m not going to change my views because today someone has a view that’s different.”Bush is one of 11 major Republicans in the hunt for the nomination.After touring four early-voting states, Bush quickly launches a private fundraising tour with stops in at least 11 cities before the end of the month. Two events alone, in Washington and in New York, will account for almost $2 million in new campaign cash, according to invitations that list more than 75 already committed donors