Jeb Bush wanted SC voters to do for his campaign what they did for his brother’s 16 years ago.
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While Donald Trump won Saturday’s GOP primary in SC with 32.5 percent of the vote, the real battle was for second place. Sen.
Remember when the Republicans had 17 presidential candidates share one event for the first debate in Cleveland? “It is certainly bigger than any one candidate”, an emotional Bush said. Bush brought his brother, former President George W. Bush, onto the campaign trail this week in SC, but it did little to improve his fortunes.
After a sixth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Bush invested heavily in New Hampshire and came in fourth.
SC this week felt like it was do or die for Bush, and indeed it was.
The final results aren’t in, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s campaign is already claiming victory in the so-called “governor’s bracket”.
As vote tallies showed him essentially tied for second with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Mr. Cruz said he had continued “defying expectations” in the early states, even though he seemed to underperform relative to the some recent polls.
“It has been a campaign conducted in the finest tradition of dignity and integrity and Jeb Bush gave it his all: he can have no regrets”.
Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz: Rubio still has to figure out how to actually win a state, though he should get a bump from Bush’s exit.
A tornado named Trump, howling through the race with bombast and braggadocio blew Mr. Bush, once as presumptive as Hillary Clinton was “inevitable”, so far off course that the former governor never gained solid footing.
Bush took a few veiled jabs in his speech at Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman and former Atlantic City casino magnate who won the primary Saturday. Rubio and Bush were both largely considered mainstream conservatives, but Trump argued that he would continue to earn support as candidates leave the race.
After South Carolina, the Republican presidential campaign will rapidly pick up steam in March when dozens of states hold nominating contests.
“We expect to do very, very well”, said Donald Trump at a rally in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Saturday night.
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But he quickly slid in the polls behind some of his more outspoken Republican rivals such as Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, who have billed themselves as anti-establishment alternatives to the early frontrunner.
