After taking the political world by surprise in early January with the formation of a shiny new political committee, Bush has largely receded from public view, instead putting an acute focus on raising money and building what his growing team of aides describe as a “shock and awe” campaign operation.
Aside from some previously-booked paid speeches, a series of banal postings on Instagram and Twitter and a few random run-ins with scrap-hungry reporters, the former Florida governor seems determined to avoid the traps of the horse race-driven daily news cycle and the expectations game that comes with it.
READ: 2016 race kicks off with long day of auditions in Iowa
Bush’s mission in these early days of the cycle is to keep his head down and raise as much money as possible in an effort to muscle out his closest Republican rivals, hire a talented staff and build a high-octane campaign apparatus that can go the distance against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“There is a lot going on under the surface,” said one Bush-aligned strategist who, like most allies interviewed for this story, refused to talk on the record about any campaign plans. “He is still in the process of considering whether to run, but we are building and organizing. It’s a pretty muscular financial and political organization.”
Bush skipped the first big Republican event of the presidential cycle this weekend, an “Iowa Freedom Summit” that attracted almost a dozen Republicans pondering presidential bids and a conservative audience that winced at any mention of the former Florida governor, a perceived moderate in the wide-open GOP field. Nor did Bush attend a California forum organized by the Koch Brothers fundraising network, a confab that drew three other senators mulling White House bids.
His staffers, meanwhile, are fiercely tight-lipped about his plans and calendar, including a forthcoming book rollout, offering only the blandest of comments to reporters.
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Bush is also keeping an eye on Michigan, which has yet to move its primary date from a February slot to later in the year despite the threat of penalties from the Republican National Committee. Former Michigan governor John Engler is keeping tabs on on the state’s primary for Bush and his team.
Bush’s organizational strength, fundraising prowess and blooming establishment support have impressed Washington insiders. But his strengths have yet to be tested in the wilds of the campaign trail, where goodwill for Romney still lingers among rank-and-file Republicans. Bush will have to introduce himself to Republican voters, hold steady throughout the ups-and-downs primary grindhouse and explain thorny positions to a GOP electorate that has drifted right since Bush last held office almost a decade ago.
At some point in the coming months, Bush will have to show some more leg to the public.
In Iowa, Branstad said he spoke to Bush about coming to an Agriculture Summit for presidential candidate in March. Bush, he said, “has some real interest in that.”
“My advice to all the candidates is come early and come often,” Branstad said. “I hope he does.”
