Jeb Bush feels he's fixing it -- he's offering chest-bumps in Iowa
Jeb Bush is feeling buoyed by a sense of his improved debate performance -- by the end of the night Wednesday, he was offering chest bumps to reporters (there were no takers).
During a daylong swing through Iowa, Bush offered few jabs against rival Marco Rubio, instead focusing on billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
"It was a good debate," Bush told veterans gathered at an Iowa supermarket on Veteran's Day, and he praised the moderators, saying, "I thought the moderators asked really good questions. They weren't set up to have a big food fight. They talked about things that were important it was a good debate."
Hunching slightly to pour a cup of coffee for a veteran who was seated, Bush explained, "I'm coffeed out. I didn't get much sleep last night so I started drinking my caffeine early," after the man asked if the candidate had tried the coffee at the Hy-Vee grocery store.
Despite the quiet start of the day for Bush, who had flown into Iowa Tuesday night immediately following the debate, it was a relatively good morning for a Bush who has been facing questions about death spirals and untimely exits. After the debate, Bush was joined on the stump in Iowa by Medal of Honor winner Col. Leo Thorsness and endorsed that day by former Senator Bob Dole, a war hero, onetime Republican presidential nominee and rival to Bush's father.
After a midday town hall in Atlantic, Iowa, a relaxed Bush declined several opportunities to attack former protégé Marco Rubio. "I'm a better bet," Bush said in response to a question on whether Senator Rubio could beat Secretary Clinton, "because I've got a proven record and I campaign in a way that's based on that record and based on the ideas that I have that are about the future. I've been vetted, I've been tested, I'm an open book."
"Big Win Last Night," read the subject line of a fundraising email to donors from the head of Bush's super-PAC Mike Murphy, a sentiment undoubtedly shared by the campaign, but one potential rift emerged on Wednesday between Bush and his super-PAC.
"I don't think anyone should attack someone that's pro-life," replied Bush when asked whether he would disavow any potential attacks by Right to Rise hitting Senator Rubio's stance on abortion for being too extreme. "I don't think anyone should be critical of someone that's pro life because I'm the most pro life candidate on the stage."
The questions came in the wake of a New York Times story that the super PAC supporting him, Right to Rise, was willing to spend $20 million dollars to go after Rubio with a possible attack on Rubio's opposition to abortion exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
Reflecting on the role of debate coach Jon Krausher, who was brought on after a poor third debate two weeks ago, Bush riffed, "I don't know, he's certainly not an image-maker. You're looking at it, man. He just brought some logic into being able to say what you think, don't get tripped up with the questions."
Bush was internalizing those directions last week when he told reporters last week that he was, "learning the new art of acknowledging the question, being respectful of the questioner of course, and then answering what's on my mind."
As the day wore on, Bush picked up steam, delivering a punchy performance for an audience of over two hundred people braving rain and tornado warnings to hear him speak at the Waukee firehouse.
"I don't really watch the shows. I seek my safe havens -- which is ESPN -- ...but I have to admit I kept it on there and literally the thing he was saying was, 'When I become president, on the first day, every Syrian refugee will be sent back,'" Bush said. "Wow, I'm thinking, 'Donald, to their slaughter?'"
Repeating a line from the debate, Bush criticized Trump's stance on Russia, "You don't outsource our foreign policy to Putin, you don't say, 'Well Putin will take out ISIS after ISIS takes out Assad.'"
An audience member asked the Floridian what his favorite books other than the Bible, leading Bush to joke, "Other than the Bible? The Bible is a good book, that was a Donald Trump answer -- the Art of the Deal?" The audience laughed.
As the event concluded, a voter went up to Bush to tell him that the debate and town hall convinced the man to switch his support from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and back Bush instead. In a moment of joyful spontaneity -- the kind that has eluded Bush lately -- the pair exchanged a chest bump.
While he was walking out, Bush joked to reporters, "I do that for every convert -- anytime you want to try a chest bump, I'm all in."