Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and brother to outgoing president George, is considering a Senate run, The Atlantic reported.
"He is receiving a lot of encouragement from both in and out of the state," a longtime Bush adviser said Tuesday night. "He is going to take his time and approach this very methodically."
Senator Mel Martinez announced Tuesday that he was not going to seek a second term in 2010. Names besides Bush tossed out as possible Republican replacements for him include former State House speaker Marco Rubio and State Attorney General Bill McCollum. Democratic guesses include Florida finance chief Alex Sink, State Senator Dan Gelber, and Congressmen Ron Klein and Kendrick Meek.
On Sunday, Bush said in an interview that Republicans need to avoid being seen as the "old white-guy party."
"In Washington we need to show humility and be the loyal opposition," he added. "I actually think we need to organize ourselves in the form of a shadow government and make it based on policy and not on partisanship...People are sick and tired of the partisanship, just for partisan sake, but they aren't sick and tired of a loftier debate about policy."
"It means recruiting candidates that look like the population we are trying to attract to our cause," he said, noting that Florida Republicans have avoided sticking to hard-line views on immigration, alienating Hispanic voters
