Bush number three ticks all boxes to take GOP banner forward

NEW YORK - Being called George Bush is not the most obvious route to elected office, but a third bearer of that name has just made a start towards a career in politics.

According to The Age, George Prescott Bush is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, George H. W., who was president for a term (1988-92), losing to Bill Clinton in 1992, and his uncle, George W., who left office last year after two terms (2000-09) with his approval ratings in the doldrums.

George P., the son of former Florida governor Jeb and his Mexican wife, Columba, has co-founded a new organisation, Hispanic Republicans of Texas.

Slick, bilingual television commercials marking its launch has confirmed the belief of many that, in time, he may become a candidate to take the Republican banner forward nationally.

But the 34-year-old Texas attorney and property developer, a college football star, was not present for the group’s formal launch in the state capital, Austin.

He was unable to attend as he was recently sent to Iraq as an intelligence officer in the Navy reserves - a deployment that further burnishes his political credentials.

His father is highly popular and a possible presidential contender for 2012 or 2016. But George P. has time on his side, and huge appeal to a constituency that does not normally vote Republican.

As one commentator on a conservative website observed: “A Hispanic with degrees from Rice and Texas Law, a record of military service, backed by an organisation devoted to making Hispanic Republicans players in Texas politics, and with the last name Bush? Sounds like the kind of candidate [who] might be able to win.” (ANI)