Jeb Bush attacks Hillary Clinton on ‘business don’t create jobs’ gaffe as 2016 race heats up – just as he faces claims White House bid would hand Hillary victory

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Presumed Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush came out swinging at probable Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton on Wednesday over her recent claim that businesses don't create jobs.

The 2016 preview of what a match-up between the two politicians would look like came at a rally for Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner, the GOP's nominee to the Senate in that state, yesterday evening. 

Bush characterized Clinton's blunder as 'breathtaking' and argued that 'the problem in America today is that not enough jobs are being created, [but] they are created by business.'

Clinton has since clarified that she meant to say America's economy doesn't grow when businesses outsource jobs. However, likely Republican presidential contenders have seized the opportunity to embarrass Clinton over the verbal misstep and frame her as an extremist.

As the midterm elections come to a close and the official start of the 2016 elections draws near, likely Republican contenders have also stepped up their criticisms of each other.

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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush blasted yesterday Hillary Clinton over her claim recent claim that businesses don't create jobs. Bush, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, made the attack on Clinton at a rally for Republican candidates, in Castle Rock, Colorado

Candidates are expected to begin declaring the formation of presidential exploratory committees as soon as December, though many politicians mulling a run have said they'll make a public announcement early next year.

For Democrats, Clinton is the top choice to lead her party, making her an early punching bag for her ideological opponents.

Republicans have offered no such mandate. Bush, a former Florida governor, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are among as many as a dozen politicians expected to compete for the GOP nomination.

The presidential hopefuls have been testing out their message on the road this fall as they campaign for the party's Senate candidates in a handful of states that will determine whether Republicans take control of the legislative branch.

On Tuesday, Paul also took aim at Clinton's remark, comparing it to President Barack Obama's infamous 'you didn't build that' statement while he stumped for embattled Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.

'The president says, you didn’t build that, it just sort of happened,' Paul said during a rally at an airport hangar in Wichita, Kansas, according to Buzzfeed. 'The plane just sort of came into being because it was a public road and a public library.

'Hillary Clinton comes up and she says, "Businesses don’t create jobs." Anybody here think businesses don’t create jobs?' Paul asked. 'I’m here today to endorse Pat Roberts and [Kansas Gov.] Sam Brownback, because you know what? They know that businesses do create jobs, and I hope you know that too.'

Paul continued to riff off Hillary's gaffe in remarks at another event for Roberts later that day, Buzzfeed noted.

President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton 'are on another page, they’re on another planet, reading another book,' he reportedly said at one point.

Clinton spent Wednesday campaigning for Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democratic Party's nominee to the Senate in the midwestern state. Since making her gaffe about businesses last week, Clinton has clarified her remarks to reflect her opinion that America's economy doesn't grow when businesses outsource jobs

Clinton holds up an Iowa-themed outfit for her granddaughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, that Braley presented to her during a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, event yesterday. Clinton has been racking up flight time in the last several weeks as she's traveled the country vouching for her party's midterm election candidates

What Clinton actually said last week during a Massachusetts rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley is, 'Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.'

'You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly.'

Clinton said on Monday that she 'shorthanded' her analysis and denied accusations that she was running the left in order mollify progressives in her party.

'Let me be absolutely clear about what I've been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out -- not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas,' she told supporters of New York Rep. Sean Maloney at an event she was headlining for him.

The former secretary of state's original comment has been further broken down by Republicans to: Hillary Clinton believes 'businesses don't create jobs.'

If Clinton does make a play for the White House next year, the gaffe will most definitely come back to haunt her in Republican attack ads. Already, the GOP has tried to paint her as out of touch with reality after the multimillionaire stated that she and husband Bill were 'dead broke' when they left the White House at the end of his presidency.

Despite her verbal flubs, Clinton is still considered the candidate to beat in the 2016 bloodbath.

In a subtle attempt to position himself as a viable alternative to Clinton on Thursday, freshman Sen. Ted Cruz said the GOP would be handing Clinton a victory if it sent another moderate politician to the general election.

'The only way for Republicans to win, I believe, is to run a candidate who runs as a strong conservative with a positive, optimistic, hopeful message,' he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Asked for his thoughts on potential competitor Bush, Cruz, said, 'Jeb has not declared his candidacy. I like Jeb. I’m a fan of Jeb Bush’s. I’m going to let him decide if he’s running first and let the primary voters make a decision.

'But I will say this: We need to learn from history, we need to look to history and what works and what doesn’t,' Cruz stated, per Politico.

'If we run another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or Mitt Romney, we will end up with the same result which is millions of people will stay home on Election Day... and if we run another candidate like that, Hillary Clinton will be the next president,' he claimed.

Kentucky Sen. Paul Rand has also knocked Clinton for her verbal misstep this week. At a rally at Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas, in support of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback , left, and Sen. Pat Roberts, right, on Tuesday, Paul compared Clinton's flub to Obama's infamous 'you didn't build that' line

Cruz went on to explain that Republicans win when they 'draw a clear distinction' between themselves and their Democratic opponents. 

'We lose, and this is true over and over again, when we move to the mushy middle and we muddle the differences,' he said. 

As Cruz pointed out, Bush has not definitively said he is running for president - yet. His son, George P. Bush, stoked speculation that he will ultimately take the dive when he said last Sunday on ABC's This Week that 'it's more than likely that he's giving this serious thought in moving forward ... that he'll run.'

Jeb Bush walked back his son's claims on Thursday, saying he was putting the cart before the horse.

'He’s got an opinion. He didn’t talk to me,' Bush told MSNBC's Kasie Hunt.

'When you have kids, you’ll probably have the same frustration,' he said. 'You love them to death and they have their own opinions. But I’ll make up my mind, just as I’ve said, at the end of the year.

'There’s nothing new here,' he promised.

Bush would come into the race as the early Republican frontrunner if he did run - setting up a potential general election battle between the two American political dynasties - polls show.

The son for former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former president George W. Bush usually takes top billing in 2016 surveys of Republican voters, followed by Paul and Christie.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll also showed Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee pulling out in front of other potential Republican challengers.