Jeb Bush to decide on Republican presidential run by end of year

Jeb Bush, a son and brother of Republican presidents, addresses a conference in Florida in January 2014. Photograph: Wilfredo Lee/AP

The former Florida governor Jeb Bush said on Sunday that he will decide before the end of the year whether to run for president in 2016.

Other leading Republican candidates for 2016 include Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey who has been hit by the 'Bridgegate' political payback scandal, and the Kentucky senator Rand Paul, a recent frontrunner among party and conservative activists.

In an AP-GfK poll released on Saturday the 2012 vice-presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan, and Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas who ran for the nomination in 2008, scored highest among Republican voters as potential nominees for 2016.

Speaking on Sunday to Fox News, Bush - the son of President George Bush and younger brother of President George W Bush - said all the speculation about whether he will run for the Republican nomination was getting him more attention than if he had already entered the race.

The former Republican governor of Florida said that was not by design, and said the state of politics was 'crazy right now'.

Bush said one factor in his decision over whether to run will be whether he can deliver an optimistic message without getting drawn into a political 'mud fight'. In a fractured and antagonistic GOP landscape, he has antagonised many Republicans by supporting an immigration overhaul and educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade, known as Common Core.

Bush said the other main factor in his decision would be whether it was OK with his family if he ran.

news3blog.blogspot.com contributed to this report