Marc Ambinder:

“Two sources close to Jeb Bush, including one who has spoken to the former Florida governor within the past few hours, say he is seriously considering a run for Senate now that incumbent Republican Mel Martinez has retired.

“He is receiving a lot of encouragement from both in and out of the state,” an longtime Bush adviser said tonight. “He is going to take his time and approach this very methodically.” Bush will weigh, according to this adviser, how a run would impact his family, his business, and whether the Senate would be the best platform for the causes he’d advocate — education, immigration, GOP solutions to health care and energy.

Bush did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

If he decides to run, Republicans expect the field to clear for him. Maybe. Gov. Charlie Crist, with whom Bush has not had the warmest of relations, is said to be interested in moving to the Senate. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is weighing a bid, as is former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, Orange County executive Richard Crotty, and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack.

Bush, in an interview with Newsmax this week, said that the GOP risked becoming “the old white-guy party” and that it ought to modulate the way it handles the immigration issue. Bush, who speaks fluent Spanish and won the support of a majority of Hispanic voters during his 2002 re-election bid, favors a comprehensive approach to reform. But Bush said that Republicans can’t give up on conservatism, and, in what might be interpreted as a dig at Florida’s current governor, said that Republicans “can’t be Democrat-lite. We can’t just ‘get along.” The words echo some Republican criticism of Crist, who they view as accodomationist in his politics and unwilling to push for real reforms.”

As a long time GOP type in Florida who worked on Jeb’s campaign in 2004, I don’t see this happening. Yet Jeb Bush has proved me wrong before. One of the reasons comes from the “unthinkable” according to Democrats and that’s a Jeb Bush run for President in 2012. Now before you spit your coffee at the screen, it’s not that far off the radar.

In spite of the pounding George Bush is taking in his waning days, remember that when the Clinton’s left office it was basically “good riddance” and no one really thought they’d be back in an administration – either their own or another’s – but here we are with Hillary getting nominated for SOS. Four years from now the public mood of George Bush will change, especially if Iraq continues on it course of success.

Yet I really do like the idea of a Jeb run for President with a strong VP candidate – yes Palin might just fit that bill four years from now if her GOP popularity continues.

In light of this I don’t see him running for Senate, but then I could be wrong.