Jeb in '08?

Brendan Miniter, writing in the Wall Street Journal, seems to think that the stars are lining up to make a presidential run by Jeb Bush both possible and very likely successful:

He denies he's even interested, and a long list of political analysts have already written him off with the belief that the appearance of political nepotism would be too unseemly for voters to put the brother of the current president in the Oval Office. But in politics timing is everything, and as the clock advances towards 2008, things are starting to fall into place to give Jeb Bush the momentum he needs to win the White House. And this isn't contingent on Hillary Clinton emerging as the Democrats' nominee--though if she does, the path will be all the smoother for another Bush.

Let's first dispense with the idea that Jeb's biggest liability would be his last name. Since when does name recognition hurt in politics? It's true that many of this brother's political adversaries would simply cross out "George" in their campaign literature and ink in "Jeb" above it. MoveOn.org and other Democratic interest groups would find plenty of willing donors. George Soros would likely make another multimillion-dollar pledge to drive the Bushes from Washington. But then again, they did all that last time, and we aren't discussing who will challenge President Kerry.

You need to read the whole article to get the full flavor of his argument. I personally think the country would be hesitant to elect another Bush, even though I think Jeb would be a great president. However, as Miniter points out, if the Dem candidate is Hillary Clinton, the name thing won't be so much of a problem.

I have to admit, it would be fun on election night 2008 to hear the lefties heads exploding as the networks call the election for Jeb.