All the money in the world may not save Bush
WASHINGTO — The morning after Wednesday night’s Republican debate, Jeb Bush flew to Portsmouth, N.H., where he stood on the waterfront outside a picturesque chowder shop on which his staff had tacked a large sign proclaiming, “Jeb can fix it.”
It’s not clear that he can.
The one-time front-runner in the Republican race, Bush has suffered a steady eclipse for months, first at the hands of Donald Trump and more recently from his fellow Floridian and one-time protégé, Sen. Marco Rubio.
The enormous fundraising success that Bush showed in the first half of the year has long since subsided, with new donors slow to join a campaign that has languished. The campaign has had little success with grass-roots fundraising, leaving it highly dependent on wealthy donors. And the establishment figures who flocked to back him in the spring have grown jittery as winter nears.
During the debate, Bush went after Rubio, challenging him on his poor attendance record this year in the Senate and calling on him to resign his seat. The campaign had tipped at least some people off that an attack was coming, making it all the more striking that Bush seemed unprepared for Rubio to have a comeback.
“I don’t remember you ever complaining about John McCain’s vote record,” Rubio said, noting that McCain missed even more votes when he ran for president in 2008.
“The only reason why you’re doing it now is because we’re running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.”
Even among Bush’s friends and supporters, few thought the former Florida governor had won the exchange.
Bush’s campaign spokesman, Tim Miller, acknowledged that the negative headlines had left supporters concerned.
“He has said he is going to continue to improve and get better. He is a competitive guy,” Miller said, noting that the Republican candidates will have another debate in 10 days.
“There are no presidents of the United States that are president because of how they did in an October debate the year before the election,” Miller said. “That’s kind of where we’re at.”
Indeed, there is no question that Bush retains valuable assets for a campaign, starting with a “super-PAC” stuffed with $100 million or more — far more than any of his rivals — and a seasoned staff that knows something about riding the ups and downs of a campaign.
Family history can provide a buoy, too: Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, was all but written off early in the 1988 presidential campaign before he rallied to win New Hampshire and go on to the presidency.
“It’s too early to suggest it’s over,” said Ed Rogers, a veteran Republican strategist who experienced that campaign and went on to serve in the elder Bush’s White House.
“A lot of what matters lies in front of us, not behind us,” Rogers said.
