Grassley: Bush has ‘good chance’ in 2016
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Saturday weighed in on the presidential prospects of a few top-tier likely Republican contenders looking to make inroads in his early voting state of Iowa, saying at an agricultural summit this weekend that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has a “good chance” in 2016.
“I’ve only had a couple discussions with Jeb Bush, but I think he was … a very conservative governor of Florida,” Grassley told Bloomberg in an on-camera interview, saying he crossed paths “many times” with Jeb in Iowa when the younger Bush campaigned for his dad’s first presidential bid in 1980.
{mosads}”I think that the two things that bother people — I think if he can figure out how to handle these, Common Core and immigration — I think he’s got a good chance,” Grassley said.
Grassley suggested Bush could easily reconcile differences with a large part of the conservative base over the Common Core education standards by noting that education does not appear in the Constitution and should be left to the states.
“I can’t give him much advice on how to handle the immigration issue,” Grassley told Bloomberg, adding that “securing the border, for me and a lot of my colleagues, is the most important thing, and can he convince people that he can secure the border?”
Bush is making his opening salvo in the first-in-the-nation caucus state this weekend at the inaugural Iowa Agricultural Summit, which also draws likely GOP rivals New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Waker, among others.
Grassley noted Walker’s dad was a Baptist minister in his congressional district.
“I like Scott Walker, not so much because he’s a presidential candidate – although I welcome that – but I think he has taken on some powerful interests in his state, and he’s won,” Grassley told Bloomberg.
Walker, who took office in 2010, sailed to reelection last year and also fended off a recall attempt.
“That speaks a lot about the leader he could potentially be of the United States,” Grassley said.
Asked about another likely presidential contender, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who skipped the summit, Grassley said he would make a strong candidate “I think except on foreign affairs.”
“He’s got a different view on foreign policy than I have,” Grassley added.
“I have great confidence in the caucus system in Iowa that the cream will flow to the top.”
Addressing the audience, Grassley underscored elements of appeal within the early-voting state.
“Iowa farmers continue to step up, we continue to provide our nation with safe, clean, affordable, domestic energy – that can be for food, fiber, fuel and whatever else you can do with what we produce,” Grassley said.
“It’s time that we had someone in the White House who recognizes the enormous potential of domestic energy. Hopefully that will be from our team of well-qualified presidential candidates we have right now.”
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