Whether he is upping the ante or simply responding to a request for appearance is anyone’s guess. But Jeb Bush’s commencement address next Monday at the University of South Carolina has speculators wondering about his motives.
South Carolina is the third in the line-up of ‘first in the nation’ state presidential primaries and the first in the South, followed by Florida. The state has historically been a linchpin for candidates seeking a beachhead against the winner either of Iowa or New Hampshire.
If a hypothetical Bush candidacy performed well in South Carolina, he would almost certainly win his home state of Florida. This might slingshot him into the lead in delegate counts going into Super Tuesday in February of 2016 where more than a half dozen state primaries are decided on a single day.
Such an eventuality would render a potential loss in Iowa meaningless, and that might explain what some speculate is a coordinate effort to bring him to the Palmetto State.
Adding more fuel to the fire of that speculation, Bush appeared in an interview with a local Miami ABC affiliate in which he declared confidently that he “would be a good president.”
Adding that he is finishing up his e-book on his leadership in Florida (a tell-tale sign that a campaign is about to begin), Bush continued, “If you run with big ideas and then you’re true to those ideas, and get a chance to serve and implement them and do it with passion and conviction, you can move the needle. … And that’s what we need right now in America.”
