THE race for the White House in 2016 could be a battle of the big hitters as Jeb Bush officially announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
It paves the way for a potential clash between brand Bush and brand Clinton, with former First Lady Hilary Clinton already in the running for the Democratic ticket.
If elected president, Mr Bush , 62, would be the third member of his family in less than 30 years to hold the office, following in the footsteps of his father George H. W. Bush and brother, George W. Bush.
Both presidencies were marked by US involvement in Iraq, with the senior Bush presiding over the Gulf War in 1990 and George W spearheading the controversial drive for regime change to oust his father's nemesis, Saddam Hussein, in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Neither were present at the rally in Miami in Monday, when the former Governor of Florida finally declared his long-touted bid for the Republication nomination.
He said: "I will campaign as I would serve, going everywhere, speaking to everyone, keeping my word, facing the issues without flinching."
Addressing the audience in both English and Spanish, Mr Bush - whose wife is Mexican-born - said his message would be "an optimistic one".
"I am certain that we can make the decades just ahead in America the greatest time ever to be alive in this world," he said.
"We will take Washington - the static capital of this dynamic country - out of the business of causing problems. I will take nothing and no one for granted. I will run with heart. I will run to win."
Among Mr Bush's rivals for the Republican candidacy is Kentucky senator, Rand Paul, who said he would be up against a "Bush-Clinton fatigue" in the United States.
"I think some people have had enough Bushes and enough Clintons," said Mr Paul.
Meanwhile, Mark Meckler, a leader of the ultraconservative tea party movement, said Mr Bush's positions on education and immigration are "a non-starter with many conservatives".
In a campaign video unveiled on Monday featuring women, minorities and a disabled child, Mr Bush said society's most vulnerable "should be in the front of the line and not the back".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article