Saying that "if his last name wasn't Bush he'd probably already be sitting in the White House," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush remains a dark-horse candidate for president — and a potential game-changer with his fundraising prowess if he decides to run.

Despite a "rusty re-entry into politics," rankling conservatives with sympathetic remarks on illegal immigration and support for federal Common Core educational standards, Bush "wants to run," O'Connell told Newsmax TV's "America's Forum" host J.D. Hayworth and Newsmax contributor Francesca Page.

"He could conceivably out-fund-raise everyone in the field," said O'Connell, "and as you know, if you can raise enough money . . . in what's likely to be a crowded affair, you always have a chance.

"But it's going to be a game-time decision for Jeb Bush," he said Wednesday.

O'Connell listed a few more GOP maybes: 

• Ohio Gov. John Kasich: "He's got a strong conservative record and he's also got a strong economic record. And . . . it's the second-most important swing state in the Electoral College."
• Ohio Sen. Rob Portman: "His future really depends on what Kasich does — they'd be relying on the same well of donors. I love Rob, he's a pragmatic, solutions-oriented guy. The problem is he doesn't exactly light your hair on fire on the stump."
• Texas Gov. Rick Perry: "Sometimes you only get one opportunity to make a first impression, and Perry wasn't exactly ready for prime time in 2012. And I'm not sure donors and voters are going to forget."
• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: "He's doing very well in the polls, and I'm going to tip my hat to Mike.... But I'm not sure he wants to run because — let's be honest — he's got a great deal at Fox News."
• New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: "Her back story is literally the modern American dream.... I'm going to make this prediction: I see her as the VP choice of just about everyone in the field who could possibly wind up as a Republican nominee."

Read more from Sean Piccoli at Newsmax.com

Brace yourself. This may come as a shock. Susana Martinez owes the Cuss Jar.

Yes, it turns out the governor of New Mexico utters the occasional naughty word. She once called her opponent a “bitch.” She may even have dropped an F-bomb during her term as governor.  

She also once wondered aloud what the New Mexico State Commission on the Status of Women did all day and why its leader is a member of her cabinet. A lot of voters probably would be interested in the answer to that question as well.

That is the best Mother Jones magazine could come up with in a 5,000-word hit piece released earlier this week, complete with purloined recordings of meetings and conference calls and other “inside” information on the 2010 campaign that put her in office.

To be charitable, the timing is interesting. Martinez is up for re-election in November. More importantly, her name has made its way to various short lists of potential vice presidential candidates in the 2016 election. It’s even possible she may run herself. And with Democrats stuck in the Hillary Clinton vortex– they can’t move decisively in any direction until she declares whether she will run in 2016 – her party and its supplicants in the press, such as MoJo, are spending their time trying to dirty up potential Republican presidential candidates.

The carousel of character assassination was bound to stop on Martinez at some point. MSNBC’s merciless round-the-clock coverage of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Bridgegate not only failed to knock him out of the race; it didn’t even manage to knock him from the top spot in the polls.

Read more from Ford O'Connell at U.S. News & World Report 

Less than two years after her election as the nation’s first female governor of Hispanic heritage, conservative Republican Martinez is watched closely and reported on far beyond the borders of New Mexico. Like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and fellow Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Nikki Haley of South Carolina, former prosecutor Martinez is considered one of her party’s brightest future stars.  Many say that her life story and unique political role make her the most intriguing and attractive prospect to be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate.

“Martinez would make an excellent vice presidential pick for two reasons: she would help Republicans make inroads with Hispanics and women, two key demographics, and she is a popular chief executive with a solid record from a left-leaning state,” said Republican political consultant and television news analyst Ford O’Connell recently at a private luncheon of foreign correspondents covering the U.S. election.

All true — and then adding her personal saga.

Read more from John Gizzi at Human Events

Regardless of what she says, if Martinez returns a solid vetting report - Team Romney would be just short of naive to overlook her as a vice presidential pick. Forget game changer, and start thinking "game equalizer." Andrew Romano at Newsweek has more:

Consider Romney’s vulnerabilities. He trails Barack Obama by as many as 56 percentage points among Latinos. Women prefer the president by roughly 20 points. Conservatives still distrust him, and populists in both parties suspect that he’s a vulture capitalist who likes to fire people. New Mexico’s Martinez, the first Latina governor in U.S. history, would solve each of these problems, or help as much as any running mate conceivably could. Within minutes of meeting me in Santa Fe one morning last month, she is speaking fluent Spanish, reminiscing about the .357 magnum she acquired at age 18, and describing her family’s mom-and-pop security business back in El Paso.

The question now is whether Romney, who pledged in January to consider Martinez for his cabinet and “some other positions as well,” will be wise enough to keep his promise—and whether, if offered, Martinez will be ambitious enough to accept.

To thrive in the years ahead, Republicans must do a better job of appealing to three kinds of people: women, Latinos, Westerners. Simply put, the GOP needs to become less of a Mitt Romney party and more of a Susana Martinez party.

From Benjy Sarlin at TPM:

Picking a Hispanic politician would be a logical way to boost appeal with a key constituency. Republicans, including Romney, have some “catching up to do” with Hispanic voters after lashing themselves to the anti-immigration wing of the party in recent years. A cavalcade of pundits and strategists argue that a Hispanic vice president might be their last, best shot to clean up their image before they lose a rapidly growing demographic for a generation.

But Romney may not be able to balance his ticket with a Hispanic rising star regardless of the debate’s merits. Of the three big names to emerge [Susana Martinez, Brian Sandoval and Marco Rubio] from that 2010 class, at least two look highly unlikely to occupy the No. 2 spot and one is steadfastly denying interest, potentially denying the GOP its big chance at damage control.

“I think that none of the Latino names in play will be picked,” one Republican strategist told TPM, citing concerns that Rubio’s public vetting process might overshadow Romney.

Beyond that trio, the bench of Latino Republicans is thin, with no obvious vice presidential candidates leaping out.