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Boy, that escalated quickly.

Less than two months after the 2014 elections, the 2016 Republican presidential race is taking clear shape with several major players moving quickly to carve out their space (and maybe keep others from carving it up) in the contest.

No one typifies that early movement better than former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has formed a leadership PAC, said he is actively exploring a presidential bid and resigned all his roles on corporate and nonprofit boards.

That flurry of activity took Bush from well, maybe he might run to hes definitely running in the minds of Republican activists, political professionals and potential rivals.

And he was far from the only one. Outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who flopped in his 2012 presidential bid, has made it clear for many months that he plans another run for the White House. Ditto his Lone Star State colleague Sen. Ted Cruz. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) has been aggressively organizing for his presidential bid almost since arriving in the Senate in 2011.

On Saturday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee joined that growing group by announcing that he was ending his show on Fox News Channel to seriously consider running for president.

As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself to rule out another presidential run, Huckabee said in a statement on his Web site Saturday night. I say goodbye, but as we say in television, stay tuned. Theres more to come.

All the sudden movement particularly from Bush and Huckabee has the potential to dramatically alter the face of the just-beginning race to be the next Republican presidential nominee.

Bush is, without question, the favorite son of the GOP establishment a group that includes, most important, many of the major donors who helped propel his brother George, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Mitt Romney to the Republican nomination over the past decade and a half.

Although no one has said that Bush being in means they are out Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), a Bush protege, has been most outspoken about that theres no debate that Bush takes up lots of space that others would like to occupy.

Original post:
Republican contest for 2016 race is heating up quickly