SUMMERVILLE, S.C.—The campaign trail turned rough Wednesday for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as he reached for a strong showing in South Carolina’s GOP primary Saturday.
First, news leaked that Gov. Nikki Haley will endorse rival Marco Rubio, a development that Bush said left him “disappointed.”
Then, at his own town hall event at a Charleston-area club, he got more unsolicited advice—mostly about how to handle front runner Donald Trump—than policy questions.
Take the high road. Be more like brother George, the former president. “You could raise the bar,” said Edward Scott, of Frederick, Maryland.
“I don’t think your message is resonating,” Scott told Bush in front of about 300 people. “It appears that you do get knocked off center, as anyone would.”
At one point during Wednesday’s event, Bush mimicked pundits suggesting the race is over.
“It’s all decided, we don’t have to go vote I guess, it’s all finished,” Bush told the crowd in remarks circulated by rivalcampaigns. “I should stop campaigning maybe huh? It’s all done. That’s not how democracy works.”
The criticism bled into the crowd.
Republican voter David Villinger suggested to Bush that the feud with Trump was beneath the son and brother of former presidents.
“I think the campaign has been co-opted by the P.T. Barnum of our time,” Villinger told Bush, referring to Trump. “And I think he is getting you off your message—your good message.”
Bush defended his approach, saying “This is what I do. This is called campaigning right now.”
“I will not take a step back for a guy that’s like he is. Never,” Bush said, prompting applause from the group.
A retired military serviceman capped the questioning by asking Bush: “I like your brother (George). Can you be—excuse me for saying in the vernacular—a son-of-a-bitch?”
Bush replied, “I will be tough. I will be resolute. I will be firm. I will be determined.”
