CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Since announcing on Facebook his plan to explore running for president, Jeb Bush has courted high-dollar donors in private rooms and luxury resorts, and delivered weighty speeches in hotel ballrooms and city clubs.
This weekend, he was at a Pizza Ranch.
The former Florida governor arrived in Cedar Rapids behind schedule, a sign as strong as any that he is, in fact, running for president. Looking a bit disheveled, with his open-collared shirt coming untucked, Bush took questions for more than 30 minutes at a location of the Iowa-based pizza chain that’s as much a part of politics in the state as the caucuses themselves.
“Are you with me?” Bush said to one visitor, throwing his arm over the man’s shoulder. Standing side by side and grinning, Bush said, “Ten years from now, I know at least two guys who are going to be 10 years older.”
Bush appears certain to get into the 2016 race with an early and dominating lead in fundraising. He’s hired some of the best talent in the Republican Party and earned generally solid reviews at the early “cattle calls” where White House prospects gather en masse to address party loyalists.