Jeb Bush's presidential campaign is making a change in strategy - probably a good thing for him since the early strategy to scare away other candidates from the 2016 race clearly didn't work with anyone other than Mitt Romney.
The Washington Post reported this week that Bush is now finding himself in a virtual five-way polling tie in a very crowded GOP field of candidates, and his predicted hope to raise $100 million in the first half of 2015 has fallen behind schedule.
The latest Iowa polls show him in a cluster of candidates vying for second behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and he has only a slight edge in New Hampshire. National polls Wednesday showed him a touch ahead, according to a Real Clear Politics average.
The struggle, partly, for the guy who was supposed to have all the advantages going in, is of Jeb's own doing with stumbles on such things as his would-be advisers' list that is nearly identical to those of his father and brother, as well as inexplicable need to take four days and four tries to get his answer right on whether he would have invaded Iraq and set the Mideast on fire as his brother did.
But that's not all. According to the Post, there is, in essence, a little warring going on within the Bush campaign.
"Older Bush hands also grew unhappy with rapid hiring by new advisers, and relationships frayed, according to Bush associates. And as the former Florida governor began to founder on the trail and in the polls, the discussions flared into arguments about how to divvy up money and resources between Bush's allied super PAC and his official campaign," the Post writes.
"These things are always tug-of-wars," Thomas D. Rath, a Bush family friend in New Hampshire, told Post reporters about the initial sessions. "It's almost like the first day of school, everyone trying to get to the right place and find the right seats."
From this view, that pretty much says it all.
The Bush camp - while saying it wants to make the race about Jeb, not the family name - has really been thinking the family name meant this campaign would be as easy as the first day of school: Nervous introductions, lunch, recess, some afternoon treats and ride back home to White House.
Lots of GOP folks like to jab at the Clintons as a "royal family." But isn't that a bit like the seasoned cast-iron pot calling the kettle black?