By ,
Published December 20, 2015
A top adviser to Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns has backed a likely White House run by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, a Bush aide confirmed to Fox News late Tuesday.
Vin Weber, a former Minnesota congressman, has been meeting with and speaking to conservative heavyweights in effort to persuade them of Bush's credentials, a Washington-based GOP operative said.
Though Bush has not formally announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, most observers believe it is all but certain that he will formally launch his campaign later this year. Weber's support for Bush was first reported by The Washington Post.
Bush is scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor, Md., outside Washington later this month. In the run-up to his appearance, the Post reports, Weber and others have met with skeptical conservatives to talk up Bush's record on taxes, spending, and education while Florida governor.
Weber served as a senior policy advisor on both of Romney's campaigns. Late last month, the former Massachusetts governor announced he would not run for President again after publicly considering the idea. Just over two weeks before Romney announced his decision, Weber told Bloomberg Politics that he was "not happy ... with the way he's chosen to re-enter presidential politics." The Post reports that Weber's remarks were appreciated by the Bush camp, which saw Romney as a dangerous potential rival.
Fox News' Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-top-romney-strategist-backs-jeb-bushs-possible-2016-white-house-run