Reporting from Washington — Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and brother of President Bush, has decided not to run for the U.S. Senate, ending weeks of speculation that he would preserve a Bush family power center in the nation's capital.
Unlike his older brother, Jeb Bush left office with high approval ratings and a reputation as a master of policy. He was considered the strongest contender for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Mel Martinez in 2010. Now, Bush's decision forces the GOP to defend a seat in a onetime GOP stronghold where Barack Obama's presidential effort built a potent Democratic campaign machinery.
"There was a lot of support, and support from interesting places," Bush said in an interview, "but this would have been a big detour in my life."
Bush said he intends to focus on his growing real estate business and on devoting time to his family. He spent much of today calling friends and supporters to give them the news.
Bush pledged to be involved in rebuilding the Republican Party by advocating conservative ideas and policies. But in a written statement, he also called on his fellow Republicans to "raise the level of debate to reflect the American people's desire for change and bipartisanship, embodied by November's historic election."
"President-elect Obama ran a tremendous campaign, and I am proud to call him my president," Bush said in the statement.
In the interview, he added that Obama appeared to be a "very impressive guy" who is "smart, disciplined, not rash." And he called on Republicans to avoid targeting the new president with the same kind of partisan attacks that he said Democrats had hurled unfairly at his brother -- attacks that he summed up as "Bush-hating."
"The opposition should be about ideas and not what my brother suffered through in the last eight years," he said. "I don't wish that on President Obama."
Republicans from Washington to Miami and Texas -- including Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush -- had hoped that Jeb Bush would jump into the Senate race. George H.W. Bush told Fox News over the weekend that he saw the Senate seat as a possible precursor to another Bush winning the White House in the future.
Jeb Bush did not speculate about the possibility of a presidential run, but friends say that his decision not to seek Martinez's Senate seat does not preclude a future campaign for political office.
