Trailing in Iowa, Bush courts voters at state fair
Sporting a pair of personally embroidered black cowboy boots, Jeb Bush literally started off on the right foot at the Iowa State Fair on Friday.
He tweeted out a photo of his boots next to Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst's boots saying it was a "boot duel" and leapt into a four-hour fair circuit to engage Iowans of all ages, offer facetime with local politicians and soak up local delicacies like fried Snickers and pork chops.
"His competitors better keep up with him," Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters. And though the state's Senate representatives joined Bush for a press conference early Friday, neither Grassley or Ernst offered the former Florida governor an official endorsement.
Not-so-friendly poll numbers preceded Bush's trip to the state. A Suffolk University poll released earlier this week showed Bush polling at just 5 percent in Iowa, finishing seventh in the crowded GOP field. Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman dominating news cycles for his bombastic remarks, topped the Suffolk poll.
At the Iowa State Fair, Bush made the plea that "polls are irrelevant," reminding reporters that his father won the 1980 Iowa caucuses but he was just an "asterisk" at this point in the campaign.
But from the moment he arrived, the Republican presidential candidate was off and running -- and handshaking.
"Trying to break the course record for the number of handshakes in a four-hour period," Bush said as he set his competitive stare on the sprawling neon fairgrounds.
Bush also seemed like he was trying to break the record for the most number of photos taken with fairgoers. His staff was hard at work snapping these images, signing up voters, keeping Bush hydrated and pleading with reporters to give the candidate 5 feet of space. But throughout the day the domino effect occurred over and over again -- the second one reporter fell in toward Bush, the others followed. Most of the time Bush was given more like 5 inches of space rather than 5 feet.
Even buried deep inside the reporter-created mob, Bush made sure to connect with Iowans and zero in on the details -- complimenting little girls' sunglasses, asking a grown man about his tattoos, praising a Johnny Cash T-shirt and bending down to shake hands with fairgoers in wheelchairs. He also engaged in longer discussions with voters on topics like immigration and education.
In the beer tent, Bush discussed politics -- and more -- with Chris McLinden, his campaign's Dallas County chair. McLinden and the GOP hopeful spoke of Bush's father's 1980 campaign, the many politicians that come through Iowa and Bush joining the Catholic church.
With sweat dripping down his face throughout the morning, Bush listened, laughed and told stories, but he also met tough questions confidently. When he was on the soapbox stage he pushed back against a questioner who asked him about fighting ISIS and having ground troops in Iraq. As Bush began to answer the question, the questioner interrupted -- "We had to get out in 2011," he yelled.
"We didn't have to get out in 2011," Bush firmly responded from the soapbox.
"Your brother signed the deal," the questioner followed up.
"It could have been modified, and that was the expectation, everybody in Iraq and everybody in Washington knew that this deal could have been expanded. And now, now we need to do something else, which is to deal with the fact that we have Islamic terrorists organized as a caliphate," Bush said, adding that his plan would be to rebuild the Iraqi military, support the Kurdish peshmerga and re-engage with the Sunnis.
Bush has expressed time and time again that he is not a replica of his father or brother, however, and some voters wished he exuded those Texas conservative values a little bit more.
Leland and Betty Lou Long are Des Moines natives in their 80s, and they consider themselves fans of the Bush family. They plan to caucus for the Republican candidate in February, though their daughter expressed hesitation, explaining that Bush may be too liberal on some issues.
Bush also faces increasing competition from the flamboyant Republican front-runner: Donald Trump.
"He is bringing up all the issues that the politically correct are afraid to bring to the forefront," said Rodney Stairs of Indianola, Iowa, when talking about Trump. "Right now he has got my vote."
Twenty-four hours after Bush left, Trump descends on the Iowa State Fair -- arriving by helicopter -- and Iowans say they are eager to see what he eats and how he interacts with them.