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Jeb Bush's defense of immigration reform is already changing the race, whether or not he opts to try a Bush three-peat in 2016. He's flushed a highly divisive issue out into the open.

Jeb Bush is going to run for president in 2016, unless he decides that he wont. Or is it the other way around hes out, but reserves the right to jump in? In any case thats the (hazy) bottom line from the ex-Florida governors appearance on Sunday at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. At the talk, Mr. Bush did not announce a candidacy but said hell decide whether or not to try for the presidency by the end of this year.

Washington Editor

Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.

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It turns out that not running has generated way more interest than running, he said, to laughter from the crowd assembled to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his father George H.W. Bushs administration. Im not that smart, it just kind of happened that way.

Bush said his decision would depend upon two simple things: whether he could run a campaign with an optimistic message and not get sucked into the vortex of the mud fight and whether its OK for his family.

All the tactics of a campaign arent nearly as relevant because I dont think you can predict the context of a campaign this far out, said Bush, the son of one president and brother of another.

However, for all his studied indecision as to whether hell throw his heritage in the ring and try for a Bush three-peat, Bush did do something which could well reverberate throughout the GOP primary season. He repeated that hes a strong defender of the nationalized Common Core education standards, and that he supports immigration reform over the objections of the conservative wing of the party.

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Immigration reform 'love': Did Jeb Bush comment change shape of 2016 race? (+video)