What could derail the Democratic Party in 2014? A combined Jeb Bush-Rob Portman ticket.
That, at least, is the assessment of Harold Ickes, a longtime Hillary Clinton adviser and one of the organizers of Ready for Hillary, the super PAC that has been laying the groundwork for a Clinton campaign.
Ickes made his assessment before reporters during a meeting Friday of Ready for Hillary’s national finance committee at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
A Bush-Portman ticket could doom Democrats in Bush’s native Florida and in Portman’s Ohio, Ickes said, and Bush’s Hispanic support would make Colorado a difficult lift as well.
“Bush has what appears to be very strong credentials with Hispanics,” Ickes said of the former governor, whose wife, Columba, is Mexican-American. “I’m told he speaks Spanish at home, and I’m told that he actually thinks in Spanish.”
It is always fun to watch the lefties tell us which Republicans should run for president to make their lives easier. The swooning over Jon Huntsman in 2012 was like a bad journalistic romance novel. I kept waiting for a Time cover of a chiseled Huntsman riding shirtless on a white stallion to save the GOP.
The only thing that would make Democrats happier than another Romney run is Jeb Bush running, and that’s because Jeb is the one Republican with name recognition who would probably under perform Mitt’s 2012 showing.
Portman keeps getting mentioned simply because he’s from Ohio, which is supposed to give the Republicans a boost there. The big problem with him is that no one outside of Ohio has any idea who he is. He is so bland there’s a good chance many in Ohio aren’t aware of him either.
This is a dream ticket only if you’re a Democrat who doesn’t want to have to campaign full time for the next two years.
Like Hillary Clinton.
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