If you're
If you're
Thank you, G0D, is what Hillary was thinking.
Not because
And anybody who can get in Jeb's way makes life easier for Hillary.
Jeb is definitely not whom she wants to face in the election. Among potential
Just ask Romney. Or
The last presidential candidate to take the Sunshine State but lose the national election was
If you're Hillary, you're nervous about Jeb because he remains well-liked in
Hillary is sharp enough to know that Jeb got to be governor -- and was easily re-elected -- by drawing thousands of crossover votes from
It would be ideal for her if the Republicans nominated a tea-party hothead, thus alienating millions of American voters except for the cranky old white people who listen to
If that happened, Hillary could put her campaign on autopilot. She'd win in a landslide.
If you are her, you pray for the
A race against even Romney could also be a breeze, though the odds are slim that the Republicans will give him another shot. Still, anything can happen in the primaries, especially since these knuckleheads insist on starting in
If you're Hillary, things were looking super solid for 2016 until Jeb started making moves like he was going to run. Now what do you do?
You had counted on locking up the huge Hispanic vote, yet here's a Republican who speaks fluent Spanish and openly favors a more compassionate immigration policy than his party espouses. This will be a problem.
If Jeb were more like Romney, you could depend on him to flip-flop and retreat to an extreme position that would drive away Latino voters in droves. So far, though, Jeb hasn't backed down.
While Sen.
If you're Hillary, you want to pull your hair out. You never planned on running against a Republican who respected gays and lesbians. It's not fair!
If Jeb sustains this tolerant tone, Hillary will be forced to devise a new attack strategy.
You can't really slam him just for being another Bush without getting slammed yourself for being another Clinton. The fact that Bill is dear friends with Jeb's dad, the elder George, also complicates that formula.
Nor can you slop any blame on Jeb for invading
So scratch Bush fatigue off the list of campaign issues. Ditto for
On education, Jeb supports the Common Core curriculum in defiance of the
If you are her, you're left hoping with all your soul that Romney muddies the center of the
You can also hope that the tea-party screamers bash Jeb so relentlessly during the primary season that his momentum is blunted. It's not impossible for him to be overtaken by a more beatable candidate, which is to say any other candidate.
Even better, if you're Hillary you are hoping that Jeb loses his spine, backpedals from these semi-reasonable positions and soon starts sounding like all his rivals.
It would be your dream scenario -- Jeb morphs into Mitt, and together they morph into the woodwork. Without Jeb topping the
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Carl Hiaasen is an award-winning columnist for The Miami Herald.