Bush doing whatever it takes to stay relevant

[webfact]

Bush doing whatever it takes to stay relevant
By STEVE PEOPLES and JULIE BYKOWICZ

HIAWATHA, Iowa (AP) — Jeb Bush's supporters have spent $15 million on slickly produced ads to win over Iowa voters. Barely registering in the polls and increasingly desperate in the shadow of the Iowa caucuses, he's now trying a cost-free, personal tactic: hugs.

When 67-year-old Harrison Cass, Jr., of Waterloo, pledged to caucus for Bush Monday night, the former Florida governor jogged across a crowded town hall-style meeting to embrace him.

"I give out hugs," Bush said at the Cedar Falls event. "I'm from Miami, that's what we do."

Bush, once considered the Republican presidential front-runner, is doing whatever it takes to stay relevant in the 2016 contest.

And whether it's a friendly squeeze or a scathing attacks ad from his allies, he's showing no signs of going quietly. That's despite the wishes of some Republican strategists, who fear his underdog candidacy is making it harder for his party's mainstream wing to coalesce behind another candidate.

All the while, billionaire businessman Donald Trump has maintained a huge lead over the so-called establishment candidates.

Bush's super PAC, Right to Rise, has disgorged tens of millions of dollars attacking the candidates seen to be in direct competition with him: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Right to Rise has spent more than $24 million on ads contrasting the former Florida governor with one or more of those three, most often Rubio, data from advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG show. That's on top of a tidal wave of millions of dollars of mail to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire opposing Rubio, Kasich and Christie — sometimes all three at once, expenses documented in Federal Election Commission reports.

Overall, Bush's allied super PAC had spent more than $80 million on television and radio advertising this campaign season as of midday Sunday. That includes more than $15 million in Iowa alone — which is about as much as the total by super PACs aligned with the other Republican candidates still in the race.

Bush's team privately jokes they've successfully lowered expectations headed into Monday contest by having scored just 2 percent in the Des Moines Register's weekend poll.

"Talk to me on Tuesday," Bush said when asked about his precarious political standing during a brief interview with The Associated Press, referencing the day after Iowa's caucuses.

He also told Rubio supporters to stop "whining" about attack ads.

"You don't think that the Republican nominee is gonna get the bark scraped off him by the Clinton machine? This is minor league baseball, man," Bush told AP.

"If you can't handle that, then how you gonna deal with a unified Democratic Party that will go out to try to destroy you? And be president of the United States?" he said. "This is a tough job. This isn't bean bag. Everybody's gotta get a grip."

Of Right to Rise's 22 different commercials on broadcast television, none has played more frequently than a vicious spot hammering Rubio as inconsistent, CMAG data show.

That commercial, depicting Rubio as a weather vane atop a house blowing around to point to different positions the super PAC says he has taken, had been on TV some 2,791 times as of early this week.

Another of the super PAC's most-broadcast spots is a cutting portrayal of Rubio as just as unqualified for the White House as Trump and Ted Cruz, the conservative Texas senator who has been near the top of many Iowa polls. The commercial begins by reminding viewers that the president must protect the country from attacks.

One by one, the images of Trump, then Cruz, then Rubio are traced behind a desk in the Oval Office as a narrator asks, "Will he be impulsive and reckless, like Donald Trump? Will he have voted to dramatically weaken counterterrorism surveillance, like Ted Cruz? Will he have skipped crucial national security hearings and votes just to campaign, like Marco Rubio?"

"The gross piling on against Marco by Right to Rise does not feel strategic, it feels personal and vindictive," said Katie Packer, a Republican strategist who favors Rubio and is now leading a campaign to weaken Trump.

"There's no fundamental flaw other than who he is," Packer said of Bush, suggesting that voters simply never warmed to the idea of a third Bush presidency. "The best marketing campaign in the world can't sell a product that people aren't interested in considering."

Bush is spending the Iowa campaign's final hours campaigning alongside his son, Jeb Bush Jr., who set a low bar for success during a campaign appearance in Hiawatha Sunday afternoon.

"It'd be great to be the best governor to out of here and beat expectations, whatever those are," the younger Bush said when asked about his expectations.

Meanwhile, Harrison said Bush was the first presidential candidate he ever physically embraced. Bush's public display of affection caught him off guard.

"I thought he was going to shake my hand," Harrison said. "He's really trying to reach out to people."
___

Bykowicz reported from Washington.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-01

[Pinot]

Put a fork in Jeb. Not right-wing and xenophobic enough for this base.

[JetsetBkk]

"I thought he was going to shake my hand," Harrison said. "He's really trying to reach out to people."

He's really desperate to get some votes. Pathetic.

[JingerBen]

Put a fork in Jeb. Not right-wing and xenophobic enough for this base.

He's never really had a base - just a family power structure that has been promoting his candidacy.

Dubya's horrible legacy hangs on his neck like a millstone.

[Andreas2]

"Bush doing whatever it takes to stay relevant".

Stay? <cough>

Anyway, after he got this important, major endorsement by his mom, he could now also ask his daddy and W. for the same. I'm quite sure these endoresements would give him easily the needed boost to become POTUS.

[Scorcher]

I wish all the republican candidates except the top 2 would step down.

Then those 2 stop talking &lt;deleted&gt; and actually start talking policies and how they will be implemented. Get into detail.

Surely the voters deserve to hear actual details of policies before voting.

Edited February 1, 2016 by Scorcher

[expat_4_life]

Bush is never going to get the nomination by winning the primary.

He can't even keep his domain name registration straight, try it http://jebbush.com

There is however the possibility of a brokered convention looming. Many rules about how the candidate

is actually selected once all the primarys are decided.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/14/would-a-brokered-convention-stop-donald-trump/

[connda]

He's a worthless bag of excrement who the dynasty simply wants to run to keep skin in the game. Hell, run Cheney's daughter instead. She'd appeal to the bizzaro faction that seems to keep the Inner Beltway in a constant state of debauchery.

[connda]

I wish all the republican candidates except the top 2 would step down.

Then those 2 stop talking <deleted> and actually start talking policies and how they will be implemented. Get into detail.

Surely the voters deserve to hear actual details of policies before voting.

I wish an X50 class solar flare erupts prior to November 2016, and then we can dispense with the ingrained stupidity and bring the planet back into equilibrium.

"You must be a solar terrorist?"

Tell me sunshine? Exactly what effect do I personally have on the waning and ebbing of the freaking SUN.

Zero, zip, nada, none!

But I do understand what happens when water stops flowing to the 400+ nuclear reactors around the world.

I'm sure the 'Morlocks' will head underground.

Edited February 1, 2016 by connda

[bendejo]

[...]

There is however the possibility of a brokered convention looming. Many rules about how the candidate

is actually selected once all the primarys are decided.

Yes, I've been saying this since October. If there is no clear primary winner going into the convention in July, Jeb walks away with the nomination when it's over, even if he doesn't carry a single state in the primaries. He's the GOP status quo's beknighted. They'll do whatever it takes. And the states better keep a real sharp eye on the vote counting in November.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Let's face it, politicians are the real prostitutes of our society.

[hawker9000]

[...]

There is however the possibility of a brokered convention looming. Many rules about how the candidate

is actually selected once all the primarys are decided.

Yes, I've been saying this since October. If there is no clear primary winner going into the convention in July, Jeb walks away with the nomination when it's over, even if he doesn't carry a single state in the primaries. He's the GOP status quo's beknighted. They'll do whatever it takes. And the states better keep a real sharp eye on the vote counting in November.

Overstated I think. The possibility of a "brokered convention" is real, but the party couldn't afford the destruction that would result from pulling a too obviously failed Bush candidacy out of the hat. And we'll see what happens in S. Carolina and the 1 March primaries, but unless there's a huge comeback, most wiill be ready to put a fork to the Bush candidacy.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Don't worry, Jeb will fix it!

[bendejo]

Overstated I think. The possibility of a "brokered convention" is real, but the party couldn't afford the destruction that would result from pulling a too obviously failed Bush candidacy out of the hat. And we'll see what happens in S. Carolina and the 1 March primaries, but unless there's a huge comeback, most wiill be ready to put a fork to the Bush candidacy.

One piece of political currency you don't hear mentioned much is clout. Nixon lost his clout when GHW Bush, head of the RNC at the time, told him the party couldn't support him any more. Clout helped the Bushes in the 2000 vote count. Clout helped Obama get the nomination over Hillary in 2008, but it can also be viewed as the Clinton's lack of clout, as the Dems in general pulled back from them like a quickly receding tide once Obama began picking up traction.

Of the current GOP contenders, no one comes near Jeb on clout. Trump, Cruz and Carson have ZERO.

The GOP is notoriously authoritarian, in a way that authoritarian Dems like Pelosi can only fantasize about (IMO Nancy is a Republican at heart, but has a few liberal issues to give her Dem cred, and I think she may side with the GOP in blocking Scala's replacement -- in a very tacit way, of course). The Republican Party will tell their voters to do what they're told, and most will. Expect news bulletins of one or other of the elder Bushes being rushed to the hospital near death and round-the-clock press vigils. "Hey, give Jeb a break and vote for him, poor guy's mom is near death" etc. And also a whole re-packaging of Jeb, new and improved.

There's a saying in presidential politics: Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.

I have this notion that come November the two major parties' candidates will not be from the current roster...

[bendejo]

Let's face it, politicians are the real prostitutes of our society.

Hey, stop being insulting to prostitutes