Let’s hope the unnamed source in this Politico story has no idea what he’s talking about:
Mike Murphy, the Los Angeles-based ad man running Bush’s Right to Rise super PAC, isn’t about to leave the $75 million left in the group’s bank account unspent and is readying a 15-minute biographical film about Bush.
According to another source close to Right to Rise, Murphy has been floating another tactical shift to potential supporters, suggesting that he might spend the bulk of the $75 million to carpet bomb Rubio, Cruz, Carson, Christie—everyone but Trump. The thinking: making the race into a binary choice between Bush and Trump might be the only way a majority of primary voters go with Bush.
Even if Bush did somehow win a two-man showdown with Trump — hardly a safe bet at this point — the bad blood stirred up with fans of Rubio, Cruz, Carson, Christie and the rest would be enormous. Bush would have enemies in every corner of the party and would have inflicted unneeded damage on a bunch of the party’s rising stars (Rubio, Cruz) and most liked figures (Carson, Christie). This sort of move would validate every suspicion of the Republican “establishment” craving personal victory above all else, and having no real agenda beyond its own ambition and desire for power. It is exceptionally hard to imagine that Jeb Bush, having won the nomination by trashing every other candidate, unifying the party behind him and leading the GOP to victory in 2016.
What kind of Republican would seriously consider this sort of strategy?
