Bush Vote Divided in GOP Race
President, Father Are Silent as Others Pick
George P. Bush had just finished telling his father, the former governor of Florida, that he had decided to endorse former senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee for president.
Jeb Bush assured his eldest son that all the Republican candidates are "great" and that whatever he did would be okay with him and the family. Then he offered an unsolicited piece of advice to the young namesake of the 41st and 43rd presidents.
"His personal recommendation was to stay out of the madness of politics and focus on work," George P. Bush recalled last week. Instead, the 31-year-old venture capitalist from Fort Worth signed on to raise at least $50,000 for the "Law & Order" television star, a feat he says he is "close" to achieving. Why Thompson? Because he was the only presidential candidate to call and ask for his vote, the younger Bush said.
With no certain Republican front-runner and the most open-ended nominating process in decades, it is perhaps no surprise that the party's first family is just as divided in settling on a candidate. While its most powerful members -- President Bush, his father and his brother Jeb -- have remained conspicuously on the sidelines, their public statements and body language carefully analyzed for evidence of whom they privately favor, other family members have spread their endorsements around.
George P. Bush's little brother, whom everyone in the family calls "Jebby," has signed on to the campaign of former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as the young professionals chairman in Florida. Their aunt Doro, the president's younger sister, co-hosted a Washington fundraiser in February for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. One of the president's brothers, Neil M. Bush, attended a Texas event for Romney.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/05/AR2007110501788.html