Billionaire Bush donor begins personal anti-Trump campaign

Jeb! Bush must be thanking his lucky stars that he raised the bulk of the cash haul for his Super PAC before he started opening his mouth on the campaign trail. Both will campaign in New Hampshire Thursday night. He’s not going to be the nominee. The ad comes within 24 hours of Trumps call for halting immigration of people who are Muslim.

“No, I don’t”, he said. “I think our borders have to be protected from terrorists, not from Muslims”.

The ad goes on to say that Bush “has the experience and knowledge to protect your family”.

When he was growing up, Jeb said, he held his father in such high regard that he said he would be happy if he could become even half the man of the elder Bush.

“Because of the many channels of information across all these media platforms, paid advertising is having as limited an effect as anyone can recall”, said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist based in Sacramento, California, who is backing Bush. Along with a big increase in military spending, Bush would arm the Kurds, reengage with Sunni forces, establish a no-fly zone in Syria and have USA troops lead an global force on the ground.

Back in 2012, when Trump flirted with a presidential run before deciding against it, I was aghast at the overheated coverage. That’s what it is. Trump, a billionaire NY developer, averages about 28 percent to Bush’s 6.8 percent support. Bush didn’t mention him in his remarks, but when the town hall meeting opened up to the audience, the very first questioner did.

Jeb!: Absolutely. It’s not going to be Donald Trump.

Bush responded: “What about him?” When asked to name celebrities he would invite to his imaginary party, Bush first declared Trump would not be on the invite list, then spilled into a riff on Hollywood.

“I really don’t believe in celebritydom”, he said to laughs. Maybe I should get a website, but not my name.

Despite donating millions of dollars to Republican candidates and the Florida and national GOP, he said he would vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump. In a statement sent Wednesday, his camp said the company’s right to police Trump’s “brand and businesses interests” are “not forfeited by virtue of Mr. Trump’s candidacy”. “I’m sure that’s taken”.

In New Hampshire, Sheryl and Mark Poor say they are exhausted of Trump. In the good news department, Bush is still ahead of Jim Gilmore, a former governor of Virginia, who registers at less than 1 percent – and was the only other candidate to show up at the AARP event.

If only I had a political crystal ball, I might have phrased things more authoritatively.

Jeb Bush likes to campaign on policy and doesn’t often get caught up in personal details, but found himself revealing some tidbits about himself on his latest swing through New Hampshire.

Frustrated GOP candidates trekking across the country are struggling to be heard.