Mitt Romney's 2012 Florida campaign manager: Jeb's the man for the Sunshine State

Brett Doster, one of Florida’s brightest political minds, has come out firmly behind former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Supporting a fellow Floridian in the run up to Bush’s prospective presidential bid may be less than surprising.

Yet, in Doster’s case, it is.

As founder and president of political consulting firm Front Line Strategies, Doster is an expert strategist with solid GOP bona fides. He was a consultant to Pam Bondi in her 2010 attorney general bid, and served a leading role in George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election effort. Also in 2010, Front Line played a crucial part in successful elections for seven members of the Florida Legislature. Doster is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, lecturing on American politics.

What does make his newly professed allegiance to Jeb particularly noteworthy is this – Doster’s role in the 2012 election cycle, as Mitt Romney’s senior Florida campaign manager.

With Romney rumbling about his own potential 2016 run – his third attempt at the White House — it is extremely valuable at this stage to see where the “smart money” goes.

And with Doster, that smart money is on Jeb … and Florida.

“Mitt Romney was a great leader for our party in 2012,” Doster said in a recent email, “but Jeb is my man, and Florida is Jeb Bush country.”

Doster’s commitment to Jeb comes not only as someone who hails from the Sunshine State, but also from the former governor’s background as an “unabashed conservative” whose values and principles provided opportunity to Floridians. And he believes Jeb will do the same for all Americans, regardless of political stripe.

“He prevailed politically because he tirelessly campaigned in every community,” Doster added, “even in deep blue communities — and showed them that he cared.”

Under Jeb’s leadership, Doster said Florida prospered more than almost every other state in the country.

“In many ways, Florida is a mini-version of the rest of America,” he continued. “It is time for the rest of America to be like Florida.

“And under Jeb Bush, I believe that we can.”