Jeb Bush a Leading Figure Behind "Mitt for VP"

Sen. John McCain is under a lot of pressure from the Bush wing of the Republican party to anoint former Massachussetts govenror, Mitt Romney, as his choice for the VP spot. Though initially viewed with scepticism by conservatives, by the time McCain's momentum had forced Romney out of the race, he had established himself as the favored choice of conservatives who were mistrustful of McCain.

Though Jeb Bush never took sides publicly in the race (even when Crist endorsed McCain), he always seemed to be discreetly backing Romney and his closest advisors jumped onto his campaign.

Now, Jeb, along with Karl Rove and George W. Bush are leaning on the McCain team to pick Romney for the number two spot. They appear to be buying into the theory that McCain needs to sow up the conservative wing of the party into order to unite the GOP into a winning coalition - this despite overwhelming evidence that the real danger is not that the most conservative wing of the party doesn't come out, but that moderates and otherwise right leaning independents vote Democrat on the issues of the Iraq war and the faltering economy.