Jeb’s chances for president, R.I.P.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) will wind up withdrawing from the presidential campaign well before the rooster crows on the morning of the Iowa caucus. As you read these words, major Bush donors are having frenzied conversations with each other, assessing the merits of exit strategies from the Bush campaign and the possibility of switching their allegiances to other presidential candidates, especially Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

{mosads}The Bush campaign was on life support many weeks before Bush’s disastrous performance in the third GOP presidential debate this week. It was obvious to political analysts and donors that the Bush campaign was failing, that he could not effectively compete with front-runners Donald Trump or Ben Carson, and that public support for him was not adequate to sustain a successful presidential candidacy.

The eyes of the political world will now turn to Rubio, whose performance in the debate was outstanding, and whose appeal as a next generation candidate offers great promise. It will be up to Rubio to demonstrate that he possesses presidential stature in the coming weeks and months. His strong showing in the debate was a major move forward, and leaked opposition research from the failing Bush campaign, masquerading as a power point presentation of a campaign strategy, will do more to further damage Bush’s stature than undermine Rubio’s.

The hourglass is running out of sand for the Jeb Bush campaign. The big question is not whether he ultimately withdraws, but when.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.