To the surprise of myself and countless other political pundits, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced today that he will not run for retiring Sen. Mel Martinez's seat in 2010, the AP reports.Bush said, "now is not the right time to return to elected office."
This announcement clears the field for several other prominent potential Republican candidates such as state House Speaker Marco Rubio, state Attorney General Bill McCollum, and state Senate President Jeff Atwater--who were all thought unlikely to announce their candidacies if Bush had decided to run.
Now, the primary on the Republican side should prove to be messy and as of now there is no clear favorite. The DSCC is trying to get state CFO Alex Sink to run, who will now probably be more likely to throw her hat in the ring now that Bush has made it clear he will not run.
Bush was thought to be the Republicans' strongest candidate, and they were openly hoping that he would run. Democrats are sure to be rejoicing as a result of this latest development, as their chance of flipping this seat has just increased greatly.
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