Insider Report from Newsmax.com 

Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):

1. Jeb Bush Won’t Rule Out White House Run in 2016

2. White Working Class Will Decide Obama’s Fate

3. Romney Supporters Form Super PAC

4. Sheriff Babeu: More Troops for Korea Than for Border

5. Canadians Leaving Country for Medical Care

6. We Heard: Alice Walker, Harry Reid, Ahmadinejad 

1. Jeb Bush Won’t Rule Out White House Run in 2016 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has made it clear he won’t seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 — but 2016 may be a different story. 

In an interview with Katty Kay of BBC News’ Washington Bureau, Bush was asked if he has ruled out running in 2016. 

“No,” he responded. “But I haven’t ruled out being on ‘American Idol’ either.” 

Kay writes that she has spoken to many Republicans who say they wish Jeb would run in 2012, “and they genuinely believe he is the only Republican who could unseat President Barack Obama.” 

But Bush told Kay: “It’s very flattering to be asked [about running] regularly. 

“There are great candidates running and my guess is that one of them will be president, and I’ll be supportive.” 

Kay cites President George W. Bush’s low approval ratings when he left office and adds: “There is no doubt in my mind that is why [Jeb] didn’t run in 2008, won’t run in 2012, but may be tempted to run in 2016.” 

2. White Working Class Will Decide Obama’s Fate 

Significant numbers of white working class voters are expected to show up at the polls in 2012, and their level of support for President Obama will very likely determine if he is re-elected. 

That’s the view of Ruy Teixeira, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

 He points out that Obama lost the white working class vote in 2008 by a margin of 18 percentage points. But in 2010, Congressional Democrats lost by 30 points in this demographic.

 “While the first number is a figure Obama could live with repeating, the second could very well prove fatal,” observes Teixeira in an article published by The New Republic.

 And that 30-point deficit “seems increasingly possible given the recent bad news about the economy,” he adds.

 Looking at individual states, Teixeira notes that in Ohio — a state Republicans need to win to unseat Obama — white working class voters could represent as much as 56 percent of voters in 2012. Anything close to the 30-point deficit will deliver Ohio to the GOP candidate, according to Teixeira, co-author of the book “America’s Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters.”

 The 30-point deficit would also sink Obama in Florida, whose 29 electoral votes “would assure Obama’s re-election, assuming he manages to carry the 18 states that Democrats have carried in every presidential election since 1992,” Teixeira says.

 States with high percentages of white working class voters that Republicans could strongly contest include Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

 As to whether a surge toward the Republican candidate among white working class voters is likely, Teixeira cites the “bleak economic situation confronting most members” of this voting bloc and says: “Scarily so.”

 3. Romney Supporters Form Super PAC 

Backers of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have formed a “super” political action committee to aid Romney’s quest for the Republican presidential nomination. 

The board of the PAC, Restore Our Future, includes Republican strategists Carl Forti, who served as Romney’s political director during his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the nomination, and Larry McCarthy, a member of Romney’s media team during that campaign. 

Washington attorney Charlie Spies, CFO and counsel for Romney’s 2008 campaign, will serve as treasurer. 

Super PACs emerged following the Supreme Court ruling that struck down limits on corporate campaign spending. These committees can take unlimited company, union and individual donations and explicitly urge voters to support or oppose candidates, unlike ordinary PACs and nonprofit groups. Like other PACs, they must register with the Federal Election Commission and disclose donors. 

Spies said in a statement: “President Obama has failed to fix the problems that affect Americans. Restore Our Future will support a candidate who has worked in the private sector, who has created jobs, who understands the economy, and who believes America can succeed by the power of the American workforce. 

“Restore Our Future will support our next president, Mitt Romney.” 

4. Sheriff Babeu: More Troops for Korea Than for Border 

Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu wants to know why there are far more troops deployed at the Korean border than at the U.S.-Mexico border while his county is being overrun by illegals. 

Babeu, who was named the 2011 National Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriffs’ Association on June 19, noted that there are 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea to help defend against North Korea, and U.S. troops have been there for 58 years. 

But only 520 National Guardsmen are deployed in Arizona, which has a 276-mile border with Mexico. 

Babeu is sheriff of Pinal County, between Tucson and Phoenix and 80 miles north of the Mexican border. His officers regularly confront illegal aliens, human traffickers, drug smugglers and potential terrorists. 

The Obama administration recently announced that it would extend the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops along the border for three months, but Babeu charged that those numbers “fall far short” of what is needed. 

“We need 6,000 armed soldiers on our borders to protect America,” Babeu told CNS News. 

“Homeland Security starts at home. The gravest national security risk that we face is right here with the unsecure border with Mexico.” 

Babeu said the 6,000 troops should be deployed for a two-year period, including 3,000 in Arizona and 1,000 in each of the other three border states. 

Babeu said in an interview with Newsmax last year that his deputies routinely face drug gangs armed with AK-47 automatic rifles. He also said that more than 20 percent of illegals passing through his county are OTMs — Border Patrol jargon for “other than Mexicans” — and some are coming from “nations of interest” known for terrorists, such as Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and Jordan. 

Babeu told CNS News about his recent award: “I think it has everything to do with us standing up for America, standing up for the rule of law and not being shouted down by the president and his men trying to make like somehow we’re being un-American for enforcing the law and wanting a secure border.” 

5. Canadians Leaving Country for Medical Care 

Faced with long waits for treatment in a single-payer healthcare system, thousands of Canadians leave the country each year to seek medical care elsewhere. 

Last year an estimated 44,794 Canadians received treatment outside Canada, up from 41,006 in 2009, according to a report from the Fraser Institute. 

Nearly 5,000 patients left Canada for general surgery, and almost 6,000 sought treatment elsewhere from a urologist. 

They leave Canada “either in response to the unavailability of certain treatments, in response to concerns about quality, or in response to long wait times for medically necessary treatment,” according to Nadeem Esmail, the Institute’s former director of health system performance studies and manager of the Alberta Policy Research Center. 

The mounting medical exodus parallels an increase in the wait time for necessary treatment. 

The national median delay in receiving care after consultation with a specialist was 9.3 weeks last year, up from 8 weeks in 2009. 

Esmail adds: “The estimate likely underestimates the actual number of patients who received treatment outside the country in 2010.”

6. We Heard. . . 

THAT poet and “The Color Purple” author Alice Walker says she will take part in the upcoming flotilla to Gaza despite a warning from the U.S. State Department urging American citizens not to participate. 

Walker wrote an article for CNN on Tuesday defending her plan to carry letters to the people of Gaza aboard the “Audacity of Hope” vessel. 

“If the Israeli military attacks us, it will be as if they attacked the mailman,” she stated. 

An earlier flotilla sailed to Gaza in May 2010 to challenge Israel’s blockade of the territory. The Israeli military intercepted the ships and nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed. 

THAT Sen. Harry Reid says if he had to choose between two Mormon candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, he would choose Huntsman. 

The Democratic leader — himself a Mormon — believes Americans would turn away from former Massachusetts Gov. Romney because of his reputation as a flip-flopper on such issues as gay marriage and abortion, CBS News reports. 

Reid said: “Here’s a man who doesn’t know who he is.” 

THAT Iran on Thursday arrested a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “the latest move by opponents of the president to try to weaken his position,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
 
Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, who was forced to resign as deputy foreign minister, is charged with corruption. Clerical hardliners in the Iranian regime have accused him of being part of a “deviant current” close to Ahmadinejad that has tried to promote secular ideas. 

According to Haaretz, “Analysts interpreted the move as an attempt to clip the president’s wings.”