Jeb Bush seemed to forget Monday night he was campaigning in the Granite State and not the Hawkeye State.

When an audience member stood up to ask a question, Bush said, “Are you going to caucus for me?” Then he paused, fidgeted. “I mean vote for me?” There wasn’t much laughter at the awkward blunder.

An awkward blunder is what the Bush campaign has seemed all along. The once-prohibitive favorite is nowhere in the polls, and he is not even trying to fake it in Iowa by being there on caucus night.

IMG_6509
Jeb event at the Alpine Club in Manchester, New Hampshire

Bush has instead set his desperate sights on New Hampshire, holding a town hall event at the Alpine Club on the west side of Manchester.

According to the latest CNN/WMUR poll, he is polling at 6 percent in the state. The poll shows businessman Donald Trump at 30 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 12 percent, Florida Sen. Rubio at 11 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 9 percent, then New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 8 percent.

Bush’s strategy to go “all-in” in New Hampshire makes some sense given that New Hampshire Republicans are more moderate in their views and fiscally conservative. But, the same poll also shows that 12 percent of likely Republican primary voters would never vote for Bush — second to Trump.

As the crowd of about 200 gathered, country tunes blasted from the speakers. Then, to kick off the event, former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stumped for Bush.

Bush began by attacking the Obama administration and within three minutes acknowledged the elephant in the room — GOP front-runner, Trump. He stuck to familiar complaints, some of it quite garbled.

“It looks like in Iowa, we the Republicans, will nominate, they’ve decided perhaps, the front-running candidate, at least as it stands right now, is someone, it’s all about him,” said Bush of Trump. “Insulting his way to the presidency is the organizing principle. Insulting women, insulting Hispanics, calling for banning all Muslims as though that’s a brilliant idea as we try to forge consensus on how we deal with ISIS. Insulting the disabled, that is not leadership, that is not what we need in Washington, D.C.”

He went on to say, “I’ll be a commander-in-chief, not a divider-in-chief, not an agitator-in-chief,” as if he’d struck on something original to say.

IMG_6527
Jeb greeting the crowd after his town hall in Manchester

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Bush touted his conservative record as governor of Florida while also talking tough on foreign policy and what he would do to support America’s military saying, “I know that we have to re-engage in the world … No more talk about red lines.”

Then the conversation turned to ISIS, and of course Bush took a swing at Trump, quoting him, saying, “What we are going to do is bomb the shh — fill in the blanks — out of ISIS.”

He added, “Do you want someone that unstable and that unserious to be commander-in-chief?” The crowd responded with a hearty, “No!”

When asked by an audience member who said Kasich showed leadership by condemning “super PAC slime” he asked Bush if he would do the same.

IMG_6541
Bush talks with voters in Manchester

Bush, indeed, will call out slime when he sees it.

“This campaign is not nearly as tough as what’s happened in the past,” answered Bush. “I’m not going to back away from comparing and contrasting our records. If I see slime, you bet.”

LifeZette asked Bush if he thinks he will win in New Hampshire, to which he replied, “I’m not in the predictive business, but I’m going to work my tail off.”

He’ll need several tails for the amount of work he would have to do to get anywhere near the top of the heap.