Jeb Bush Campaign Announcement Set for June 15

Jeb Bush appeared all but certain Thursday to launch his White House bid on June 15, as fellow Republican and former Texas governor Rick Perry squeezed into the crowded 2016 presidential race.

"Hope you all will join me for a special day," Bush, the son and brother of two U.S. presidents, posted on Twitter, with a graphic showing the date 6.15.15.

The 62-year-old makes his much-anticipated announcement at Miami-Dade College's Kendall campus, following a trip next week to Germany, Poland and Estonia.

He also tweeted his announcement in Spanish, a reminder that Bush is fluent in the language of millions of Hispanic voters who traditionally vote Democratic.

Bush, a former two-term Florida governor who has amassed a substantial war chest in the months since expressing interest in following father George H.W. Bush and brother George W. Bush into the White House, would enter an increasingly packed GOP field.

Perry, who kicked off his own presidential bid Thursday with a campaign video, is the 10th Republican to officially jump in the race, joining the likes of U.S. Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina.

Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner on the Democratic side, with no current close competition.

The Republican field is more wide open, with some 16 possible major candidates. Five are bunched at the top of a recent Quinnipiac University poll with 10 percent support each, including Bush.

That handful also includes conservative Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who has yet to announce his candidacy.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is also weighing a run, as are governors John Kasich of Ohio and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

Bush's entry would place him in the top tier, even though he has experienced difficulty wooing evangelical voters who are important in early primary contests, and has struggled to answer questions over how his policies would differ from his brother's, notably on Iraq.

Last month Bush stirred up a tempest when he told Fox News that, "knowing what we know now," he still would have authorized the use of force against Iraq after the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

Claiming he misheard the question, Bush then spent days seeking to explain his position on Iraq -- the issue that defined his brother's presidency.

After a series of clumsy responses, he eventually stated that if he knew then what Americans know now, he "would not have gone into Iraq."

The setback raised concerns about Bush, who has not run for public office since 2002, and exposed a candidate potentially ill-prepared to handle the fast-moving news cycles of the digital age.

Bush has insisted "I am my own man," and stressed that brother George would not be a problem for his campaign.

"I seek out his advice. I love him dearly. I have learned from his successes and his mistakes," Bush told CBS News on Sunday.

Bush has raised suspicion among core conservatives, particularly for supporting comprehensive immigration reform. He said Sunday he was "not going to back down" on the issue.

The conservative Perry, 65, launched his campaign with a sleek website featuring a high-tempo video promising to "do right and risk the consequences."

The website touted the number of jobs created and times taxes were cut during Perry's time in office in Texas. He plans a speech later Thursday as part of his campaign rollout.

Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, had a failed, gaffe-ridden presidential bid in 2012.