Jeb Bush needs an intervention

The chief operating officer of Jeb Bush's campaign has quit, raising questions about why the former Florida governor is still in the race.

Sure, he has $100 million in a super-PAC fund, but that money can't be spent for campaign travel, staff salaries, or ads that mention the candidate by name.  All that money doesn't prove Bush to be a viable candidate at this point.  So what can Jeb Bush do to turn it around?

It's long past "turnaround" and is now about how to gracefully exit the stage.  The departure of longtime Bush aide Christine Ciccone only makes the inevitable that much closer:

The highest-ranking official known to lose her job in Jeb Bush’s flagging campaign isChristine Ciccone, the campaign’s chief operating officer.

News of Ms. Ciccone’s departure comes a week after the Bush campaign announced a re-organization that it said would reduce payroll by 40%. Ms. Ciccone served as Mr. Bush’s chief operating officer, effectively an office administrator responsible for logistics.

“We are grateful to have had Christine on the team, we respect her immensely,” Bush spokesman Tim Miller said.

Ms. Ciccone was paid roughly $12,000 a month, the equivalent of a $144,000 annual salary, according to the campaign’s most recent Federal Election Commission filling. Reached by phone Friday, Ms. Ciccone said “I’ve got no comment. I’ve just got to go.”

It was widely believed that the family get-together last weekend would have resulted in Jeb's pulling out of the race.  If it was some kind of intervention, it didn't take.  Bush is still insisting he has a shot despite all evidence to the contrary.  If there were family members and aides who gave an upbeat assessment of Jeb's chances, they, too, need some kind of intervention.

Bush may be trying to keep faith with his donors who have stood with him while his numbers tumbled.  But eventually, he won't be abile to maintain the fiction that he is a serious candidate simply because his name is Bush.  Someone needs to make the candidate face facts and leave the race before he looks the clown.

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