This article is a little dated, but nonetheless it makes some very valid points (or perhaps on my part just wishful thinking).
The Prelude to a Race
Why Elizabeth Warren won’t run and Jeb Bush won’t win...."drawn from an average of available polls—almost two-thirds of Democrats support Clinton over everyone else in the field, from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to Vice President Biden. And, contrary to some observers, this isn’t like 2006 or 2007. Then, Clinton was a modest favorite in the field. Now, she’s the undisputed leader.
Where things have changed are in the internal dynamics of the party. A year ago, the left of the Democratic Party didn’t have an ideological leader. Now, it arguably does in the form of Warren. Many see this as a prelude to a presidential run, but it’s just as likely that she tries to institutionalize her influence as a party broker, someone who speaks for liberal Democrats and can claim concessions in return for support. Or, as Dana Milbank argues for the Washington Post, a left-wing analogue to former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who now serves as president of the conservative Heritage Foundation...
...On the Republican side, chaos still reigns. On Thursday, political scientist Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia published a ranking of the GOP presidential field. It has seven sections—from an empty “first tier” of front-runners to a seventh tier of shameless hucksters—and 21 candidates, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal...
But of all of these candidates and potential candidates, we now have a standout. On Tuesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced that he was exploring a presidential run, following discussions with family and supporters over the Thanksgiving holiday. “As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States,” Bush wrote in a message on Facebook...
...Unless Bush plans to drag the Republican Party in a different direction than where it is, this is just untenable. As a candidate, Bush will have to reconcile himself to where the party is, and if he can’t do that—if he refuses to do it—then he’ll lose. There’s also the fact of his long sabbatical from the groundwork of politics. Bush hasn’t run a competitive race in more than a decade. He’s spent little time on the trail, and he can’t seem to connect to grassroots Republican audiences; during a campaign stop in North Carolina this year, he alienated the headliner—Thom Tillis—with pro-immigration and pro-Common Core rhetoric, forcing Tillis to distance himself from Bush. It was a disaster...
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/12/_2016_election_jeb_bush_won_t_win_the_republican_nomination_elizabeth_warren.html
