If it's Marco Rubio against Jeb Bush, bet on Bush

In a head-to-head contest, Bush enjoys an edge

Jeb Bush
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

As the wind blows this very instant, the two Republican candidates who offend the least amount of people in their party are the Floridians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. Fully three-quarters of polled GOP primary voters say they could see themselves supporting either of them.

A two-man race between them would be a good one. Rubio is the most naturally gifted GOP candidate on a political stage. His youth and his ethnic background make him a very natural contrast to Hillary Clinton, and his campaign announcement very obviously got into her head, when he described her as the candidate of "yesterday."

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.