Jeb Bush's Team Signals 2016 White House Bid

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

  By Melanie Batley:

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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's closest advisers have been quietly telling GOP strategists and fundraisers that they should refrain from making any commitments to other candidates until after the November elections, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The intention, according to the newspaper, is to prevent potential supporters from assuming Bush will not enter the race after speculation this summer that he was leaning against a bid.

"It's frozen the field a bit, in that it's a convenient excuse for finance people to stay neutral and wait to commit," GOP strategist Dave Carney, a top adviser to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2012 campaign, told the Journal.

Bush is currently considered the establishment's top choice in a wide field of potential candidates, though 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has also recently attracted attention as a possible leading candidate.

"It's not like Jeb would walk into the race and clear the field, but his gravitas and fundraising network makes him a first-class competitor," Carney said.

According to the Journal, Bush's team is not proactively making calls but responding to inquiries from supporters who are being courted by other potential candidates.

"There is no organized effort to actively recruit support for a presidential campaign. He is seriously considering the race and will make a decision sometime after November," Sally Bradshaw, a top Bush aide, told the Journal.

Bush's son, Jeb Bush Jr., said that while a possible run has not come up at family gatherings, it's "the 800-pound gorilla in the room."

"A lot of people are waiting to see what Dad does," Bush Jr. told the Journal. "There's a lot of pressure to run."

Jim Nicholson, a Bush supporter and former member of former President George W. Bush's cabinet, told the Journal, "I think the chances are better than 50-50 that he runs, and that is based on some conversations I've had with members of the Bush family."

Bush has spent the last few months traveling the country, engaging in public policy debates, and raising money for 2014 GOP candidates, some of whom are in states that would be key to securing the 2016 nomination.