The mystery over when Jeb Bush will update his candidacy from “exploring the option” to officially running was put to rest this week. His campaign revealed that Bush will formally enter the race in a June 15th announcement event in Miami, Florida.
The event will be hosted in an athletic complex at Miami-Dade College, ostensibly in hopes that the high-profile splash will draw a large crowd for campaign optics which so far have been carefully scripted.
Jeb will join roughly one dozen other official GOP candidates. He will also find challenges to his frontrunner status: according to the RCP polling average, Bush holds an advantage of less than one point.
Fellow Florida native Sen. Marco Rubio has come from a distant middle-of-the-pack position to join both Bush and Scott Walker for a consistent three-way tie in the latest polls over the last two weeks.
Another challenge for the Bush campaign is potential legal challenge from the Department of Justice. If the agency chooses to look into allegations of campaign finance violations in the conduct of his exploratory committee, Jeb Bush may have some legal issues to look forward to.
The challenges have brought down Jeb’s clear frontrunner standing in the national polls at a time when fewer voters are paying attention. Such circumstances could, however, play to his advantage if he performs well in the first GOP debate scheduled less than 60 days from now.
