“I know Jeb. I know his good heart and his strong backbone”, Bush says. Their hope was that Bush’s speech Wednesday night would help solidify his support. Perhaps this play is to save what little face he has left in the campaign; Bush partisans have been reported to be requesting Jeb donors wait until after the New Hampshire primary to start the flow of money to Rubio.
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Christie and Rubio, along with Jeb Bush and John Kasich, are jockeying to become the preferred alternative to outsiders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in the GOP race.
Which is why his performance in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary could make or break his bid to follow in the footsteps of his father and brother.
In a shot of the former Florida governor at a town hall in Nashua, N.H., Bush’s black shoes featured the multi-purpose adhesive attaching the sole of his left shoe to the body.
“He thinks if he attacks me that’s going to show he’s tough, but every time he attacks me he melts like butter”. “I’m in the “establishment” because my brother was a president and my dad was a president, and when I woke up in Midland, Texas, there she was”.
In the final days of his campaign, Bush has sought to connect with voters on a more personal level.
Nor was it surprising that Barbara Bush – the doting mother whom no one holds responsible for the mistakes the men in her family made – came into New Hampshire from nearby Kennebunkport to campaign for him.
As Barbara Bush hits the trail for her son, Jeb, the former First Lady is campaigning for the first time in nearly a decade.
Tom Rath, former state attorney general who has been involved in politics for more than 30 years, said there’s a tendency with the Bush campaign to run from the family’s legacy, but Barbara Bush is a reminder of the clan’s positive aspects.
“No more trash-talking”, he urged.
He pushed back on characterizations of him as part of the Republican “establishment”.
A poor showing on Tuesday will only increase the pressure on Bush to drop out of the race, which could help Rubio or another mainstream candidate competing against Trump and Cruz.
Bush fielded questions ranging from ISIS to Social Security.
She says that in 2016, people are concerned that the economy and the government “aren’t working for them…and that’s causing a lot of the anger and frustration”.
“Just wonderful to be here”, she said with her gentle but ever authoritative voice.
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Then, she called him, “the next president of the United States”.
