Jeb Bush's Solipsistic Campaign

Over the weekend, Stephen Hayes pointed out that the Jeb Bush campaign has basically “cleared the way for Donald Trump" by spending an inordinate sum against Marco Rubio. Yesterday, from John McCormack, we saw the extent to which this effort has gone—an attack on Rubio's use of a Florida GOP credit card.

It's worth taking a step back and examining the bigger picture, to ask: what exactly is Team Bush up to?

Politico had the scoop in early December:

Mike Murphy, the Los Angeles-based ad man running Bush's Right to Rise super PAC, isn't about to leave the $75 million left in the group's bank account unspent and is readying a 15-minute biographical film about Bush.

According to another source close to Right to Rise, Murphy has been floating another tactical shift to potential supporters, suggesting that he might spend the bulk of the $75 million to carpet bomb Rubio, Cruz, Carson, Chris Christie — everyone but Trump. The thinking: Making the race into a binary choice between Bush and Trump might be the only way a majority of primary voters go with Bush.

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