For the second week in a row, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo brought out a big gun in the primary 
that he’s suddenly paying attention to, after ignoring it for months, with a reminder of his endorsement from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
But that backing is soft and squishy.
Because Bush already sorta apologized in a hand-written note to one of the four other Republican candidates on the Aug. 26 ballot hoping to land on the November ticket against Democrat Rep. Joe Garcia.
Curbelo probably didn’t know when he launched a mailer this week in which Jeb urges Republican absentee voters to support the “proven education reformer and a proponent of expanding economic freedom and cutting wasteful spending.”
Read related story: Jeb Bush backs Carlos Curbelo in #FL26 – Duh!
Bush’s endorsement is old news. It first came out in February when the former guv tweeted his support for Curbelo.
When it first came out, Cutler Bay Mayor Ed “Mac” MacDougall wrote to the former guv, to let him know the kind of candidate 
that Jeb had just passed on — a Vietnam vet and former police officer who went on to found the town he is now mayor of for the second term — without so much as an interview.
Which, by the way, goes to show that it’s that kind of endorsement — one that wunderkid would get over no matter who. My words. Not Mac’s.
What other impression can we get when Bush didn’t even talk to the 
other candidates? It seems like he was sort of obligado to endorse Curbelo because the school board member has been the only local Republican to support the Common Core educational standards that Bush espouses, and which some conservatives have said they are against because it takes curriculum control away from teachers and parents.
Maybe if he had met MacDougall before he gave Curbelo his nod, Bush would have stayed out ’til the general election.
At least that is what was implied when Jeb wrote Mac back.
“Dear Mayor MacDougall, thank you for your thoughtful letter,” Jeb starts out in the hand-written note sent in early 
March. “If you win the primary, I will enthusiastically support your campaign. I am sorry that I hadn’t met you before.
“Again, thank you for the classy letter,” Bush ends, signing his name.
Well, I’ll be. If that doesn’t sound like someone second-guessing himself, I don’t know what does.
But maybe Curbelo is feeling the heat of the race, especially after a $35,000 poll he did in June that he hasn’t released the results of. Perhaps he felt the need to roll Jeb’s soft and squishy support out again for the AB race, on the heels of a commercial with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that he aired in the Keys, which she used to represent. After all, Bush is said to be one of the most popular politicians in Florida, enjoying the No. 1 spot for presidential contenders to the Dems’ Hillary Clinton, according to a Quinnipac University Poll. The fluently bilingual son of the former president, brother of another former president is popular among both Anglo and Hispanic voters.
But forget whatever you read in the Herald about Jeb Bush having some kind of impact on the FL13 race in the St. Petersburg area where Republican David Jolly trounced former CFO Alex Sink, a Democrat with at least twice as much money, in March.
Don’t forget it so much because that was a general election in which Jolly was the only Republican — making it an apples to cucumbers kind of thing.
Forget it, instead, because that’s not as important as Jeb’s own Monday morning quarterbacking.
Jeb Bush endorsement of Carlos Curbelo is soft, squishy added by Ladra on
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