Oxon Hill, United States---Jeb Bush drops in on CPAC Friday as the presumed Republican presidential frontrunner for 2016, but he has a formidable -- and maybe insurmountable -- task at the rightwing convention: convincing American conservatives he's their man.
Among the GOP faithful crowding the influential annual talk shop, where Republican politicos including several competing presidential hopefuls embrace and rally core conservatives, the former Florida governor has a reputation to overcome.
It is not necessarily as a member of the controversial Bush dynasty, a hurdle that in itself may be a heavy lift, but rather as an establishment favorite whom some here see as a sellout to billionaire donors and Obama-backed policies like immigration reform and education standards.
"Basically it's time to move on. They've had their time in the White House," conservative voter and CPAC attendee Judy Strickland of Texas -- hallowed Bush ground -- told AFP.
"I am so opposed to Common Core, he's for it," she said of the education standards conservatives have grown to revile.
"I'm so opposed to amnesty, and he's for it," she added, referring to President Barack Obama's plan to shield millions of undocumented workers from deportation.
"Those are two strong things that really concern me."
The Republican Party has repeatedly said it aims to include more minorities as supporters under its tent in 2016. But the largely white conservative base is crucial for candidates who mount primary challenges in deep red states such as South Carolina.
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, who interviews Bush at CPAC Friday, vowed to "absolutely" grill him on Common Core.
"I am being fair to everybody and I'm going to ask questions that I think are going to be asked in our presidential campaign of all the candidates," Hannity told The Hill newspaper Thursday.
Throwing down the gauntlet to rivals, Bush has big-footed potential competitors since December when he announced he was "actively" exploring a campaign.
He has dominated the money race, lassoing A-list donors and raking in millions of dollars at high-flying fund-raisers for his political action committee.
He has reportedly poached key fundraising and campaign staff from potential rivals.
Bush has also made high-profile speeches recently, laying out his foreign policy approach -- US strategy on ISIS: "Tighten the noose and take them out" -- and, in an effort to assuage concern about his last name, insisting to a think tank that "I am my own man."
So while potential campaign trail adversaries at CPAC were gleefully attacking likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, they also sought to knock Jeb down a peg in front of a friendly crowd.
Senator Ted Cruz, a grassroots Tea Party favorite from Texas, sneered that Clinton "embodies the corruption of Washington," but he raked Bush and other Republicans over the coals for failing to stand firm on issues like immigration.
"Actions speak far, far louder than words. We need to look to people who walk the walk," Cruz said, adding that real conservatives are "in the trenches."
AFP
