Much of the speculation around the Republican Party’s White House prospects for 2016 has revolved around big boldfaced names like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida’s ex-Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky. But maybe there’s another kid trying to muscle his way onto the crowded block.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has chosen President’s Day to deliver what his staff tells The Hill newspaper will be a “major address” on national security at Virginia Military Institute. If the day and the topic were not hint enough, there’s also this: Cantor’s staff tells The Hill that the Virginian intends to lay out a vision that will distinguish him both from President Barack Obama and from the libertarian (read: isolationist; read: Rand Paul) wing of his party.

Chief evidence of Cantor’s ambitions is his meteoric rise in the House. Elected in 2000, he is now the No. 2 member of his party’s leadership team. And while there are reasons to be skeptical that Cantor could attain liftoff nationally — the last sitting House member elected president was James Garfield in 1880) — he has one major asset that few of his competitors can claim: A built-in national network of loyal political operatives.

That is the result of Cantor’s prodigious fundraising and canny largesse. In the course of his political career, Sunlight’s Influence Explorer shows, he’s raked in more than $27 million. And since Cantor has never faced much competition at home (he won his last race with 58 percent of the vote), he’s used most of that money to help other Republicans. An analysis of data compiled from the Federal Election Commission by Sunlight’s Real-Time FEC tracker shows that just since the beginning of the current campaign cycle, Cantor has given more than $1.5 million to candidates in 43 states.

Not surprisingly, Cantor has lavished most of his funds on his home state, but another major focus has been Florida, an early presidential primary state where the only Jewish Republican in the House might be able to make a break-out move.