Rand Paul: Jeb’s in a dangerous spot

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is predicting trouble ahead for former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) in their race for the GOP 2016 presidential nomination.

“Jeb’s in a dangerous spot,” Paul said Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

“[F]or him, survival means being the establishment candidate,” he added. “He’s in danger of [Sen. Marco] Rubio [Fl.] becoming the establishment candidate, and I think he sees that.”

{mosads}Rubio was a protégé of Bush’s in Florida politics and is also competing for the 2016 nomination.

“He doesn’t have sort of an ideological following,” Paul added of Bush’s place in the crowded Republican field.

Paul also said Bush isn’t helping himself by reminding voters that he has two previous presidents in his immediate family.

“Well, I think he knows he can’t run on nostalgia, particularly in a general election,” Paul said. “In fact, even in the Republican Party, Jeb figured out quickly that you can’t say, ‘Oh sure, knowing what I know now, I’d have voted for the Iraq War.’

“The Iraq War was a disaster,” Paul added. “The Iraq War made us less safe.”

Paul said he is reaching Republican voters who are wary of foreign entanglements.

“We have an ideological following — we’ve always had our niche in the party,” he said.  “We’ll see if that niche is big enough to compete with everybody else.”

Bush and Paul will be among the 15 Republican White House hopefuls during the party’s third presidential debate in Boulder, Colo. Wednesday evening.

Both men have struggled for traction amid enthusiasm for political outsiders like real estate kingpin Donald Trump.

Paul vowed late Tuesday that he is filibustering a two-year bipartisan budget agreement in a major break with GOP leaders.

Bush, meanwhile, has repeatedly struggled with the legacies left by former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

He is now seemingly embracing his family’s political legacy following a Texas barbecue last weekend that also featured his father and older brother.