(image: DonkeyHotey)

I wasn’t aware until today that Politico had such confidence in well-placed sources in the Obama re-election campaign.  But how else could reporter Jonathan Martin dare to depict Jeb Bush, the Zeppo of his family’s political dynasty, this way?

He’s the GOP vice presidential pick that Democrats fear most — a brassy choice who would likely deliver his crucial home state, boost the ticket with Hispanics and Catholics and appeal to both conservatives and independents.

The problem: Jeb Bush apparently doesn’t want the job.

The former Florida governor raised eyebrows in Boston, Chicago and beyond last week when he said in a rare interview that he’d “consider” being Mitt Romney’s running mate. President Barack Obama’s high command, believing Bush would effectively take Florida off the map, paid very close attention to the comments to Newsmax.

… It’s somewhat similar to the situation Obama found himself in with Hillary Clinton four years ago but may be more analogous to Colin Powell in 1996 — a household name with crossover appeal and sterling credentials whose concerns about family kept him out of the running for either of the top two spots on the ticket.

Holy crap, “a household name with crossover appeal and sterling credentials”?!  Seriously?

Not that I think Politico is accurately representing Team Obama’s fears regarding Jeb — just the opposite, in fact.  Near as I can tell, Messrs. Axelrod, Plouffe, Messina et al. got Martin to buy a “don’t throw me in that briar patch!” feint of epic proportions.

I mean, for all the gazillions of dollars that are going to be spent on political TV commercials between now and November, is there anything that could get the Obama campaign’s message across — and negate Romney’s assaults on the president’s record — more effectively than millions of cars across the United States with “ROMNEY-BUSH” on the rear bumper?

You can’t pay for that kind of killer advertising.  And if Mitt falls for this ruse, Team Obama won’t have to.  They’ll take their chances with losing Florida for the advantage this gives them everywhere else.