It is 12 years since he last ran for election, in Florida, and he signalled his distaste for the attack-ad negativity of national campaigns today. "Can a candidate run with a hopeful, optimistic message, hopefully with enough detail to give a sense that its not just idle words and not get back into the vortex of the mud fight?" he asked.
On immigration, he almost set up the mud fight even before declaring by saying that some of those who enter the US do so out "of an act of love", coming often for family reasons. That implies both joining family members already in the US and remitting money they earn to families back home. Such sentiments are anathema to the party's right.
"Yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony," said Mr Bush, who is fluent in Spanish. "It's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime, that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families."
Though Mr Bush has solid conservative credentials, he would be pegged as the moderate in a primary battle for the nomination. His biggest problem would be that the voices of independent and moderate voters tend to be overwhelmed in early primary votes by the more conservative forces.
In Dallas, Mr Bush repeated his support for national school standards, the Common Core, which used to have wide party support until the Tea Party declared its opposition. "I just don't seem compelled to run for cover when I think this is the right thing to do for our country," he said. "And others have, others that supported the standards all of a sudden now are opposed to it. I don't get it. High standards matter."
- The Independent