Don't tell Texas the Bush dynasty is over. Polished, good-looking George P. Bush is mighty popular in the Lone Star State. Mighty popular, at least among Republicans.
This Bush is 39, nephew to W, grandson of H, son of Jeb. He was elected in a landslide in both the primary and general election in 2014 to serve as commissioner of the state's oldest office, the Texas General Land Office.
I bring him up now because no matter how much gleeful chatter emerged as the national media tried to bury the Bushes when Jeb dropped out -- Vanity Fair ("Requiem for the Bush dynasty"), The Atlantic ("An elegy for the Jeb Bush campaign"), The Guardian ("Ding dong, the dynasty is dead") -- a lot of folks in Texas apparently have a different assessment, and they're expressing it already.
George Prescott Bush came up in a news program over the weekend -- in the best possible context -- and down the road what was said might be prophetic.
"The Donald Trumps and the Bernie Sanderses are today's big thing. But this too shall pass," predicted Rice University Professor Franklin Moore on a CNN segment last Sunday. "I think the nation could be ready for a Bush again after that. Not Jeb this time, but his son George."
Then, deep in the heart of Texas Coral Lacy, popular political talk-show hostess, regularly chants to listeners, "Ted Cruz is yesterday's news ... George P. is president to be." It's a refrain that goes over well.
"Ted Cruz says he's coming back again," she said last week. "Well, so what? We're gonna need somebody who can appeal to Latinos and our country's youth. Somebody smart we can like again, and it ain't gonna be Ted," said Lacy.
"He's about all we got who's getting out in front of our Hispanic population telling the truth about Republicans," Texas committeeman Barry "Bubba" Ware said of George P. Bush. "He catches your eye, is what he does."
I'm now remembering the first person I heard suggest Jeb's eldest might eventually grace the White House. It was a day in 2004 when I attended a press conference in Miami and heard Florida International University Professor Dario Moreno tell reporters, "George P. Bush is a tremendous asset to the family. He's obviously Hispanic, he's an attractive young man, he's articulate and he's a Bush. That's a powerful combination. It raises the dynastic possibility, and it could be a hoot if the first Hispanic president of the U.S. is a Bush."
I wouldn't write the idea off. Certainly Republicans can be forgiven if they look hopefully beyond the next presidential cycle.
Land commissioner a big job in a big state. It gives George P. a lot of exposure. The office affects education, land development, veterans, oil and gas interests and historic preservation. It also manages more than 20 million acres of mineral rights, onshore and offshore.
George P. is frequently quoted in his battles against the Obama Administration, the noisiest being his fight against the federal Bureau of Land Management which is trying to lay claim to 50,000 acres in Wilbarger County, Texas.
“As it turns out, the state of Texas has standing in this case, and has sent a very loud and clear message to the president: 'Don't mess with Texas,”' he recently told a chamber of commerce audience -- to a loud standing ovation.
If George P. doesn't immediately come to mind, you might remember the "boy" from the 2000 presidential campaign who first emerged as a political asset by giving a well-received speech at the Republican National Convention. That was George P. And he appeared regularly in Spanish-language TV commercials for his uncle's campaign.
We in Florida didn't get much wind of it, but in February, when Jeb suspended his presidential campaign, George P. tweeted out this: “I love you Dad and proud that you offered a servant’s heart to the people of this great country.”
The tweet, not Jeb's statement, made front-page headlines in newspapers all over the Lone Star State. It was Texas-warm. Editors loved it.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith.
