The campaign logo is ready, so is the big speech, and his message is taking shape: Jeb Bush is about to join the crowded Republican field running for president in 2016.
Bush, 62, has run a de facto race for six months, raising money and increasing his travels, including a trip this week to Europe.
On Monday, he will make it official in Miami, and set about proving that although he comes from the Bush political dynasty, he is his own man, with his own accomplishments, and his own ideas.
On Sunday, his campaign released his logo: "Jeb!" in big red letters on a white background, with 2016 in smaller blue lettering underneath the name.
The family name is carefully avoided.
"I think the transition to a candidacy will allow me to be more direct about my advocacy of the leadership skills necessary for the next president to fix a few things," Bush told CNN in
an interview aired Sunday.
"And as a candidate, I'll be more specific on policy."
A Bush campaign video lists reforms he made while governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007.
Bush aims to break from the pack of Republican hopefuls by portraying himself as an experienced executive leader, not tainted by Washington politics.
"I can make decisions. I've made tough decisions. I have a life experience that's full," Bush told CNN.
Nationally, Bush is bunched at the top of most polls, but he is not the dominant figure in the race that many had expected.
In a RealClearPolitics poll average, he leads with 11.3 per cent.
But six other Republicans are within just four percentage points, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and fellow Floridian and US Senator Marco Rubio.
For Bush, the political pedigree as son and brother of two former presidents could end up as either a blessing or a curse.
His last name guarantees him the highest visibility of any Republican candidate.
But while US media and polls anointed him his party's early frontrunner for 2016, he hasn't lived up to the hype.
Bush waded into a quagmire last month when he repeatedly waffled over whether he would have authorised an invasion of Iraq.
The series of bungled on-air responses highlighted what will likely be one of the candidate's distracting challenges - overcoming the legacy of his brother George W. Bush and his unpopular Iraq policy.
Jeb Bush's Florida record has impressed many, but he left office eight years ago.
And grassroots conservatives have expressed scepticism, saying he has not put forward a compelling conservative message.
Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/06/15/03/07/bush-to-jump-into-presidential-campaign#MbcMMI0ll2cU7O6y.99
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