At the head end of this Primary, the Establishment was all but crowning Jeb Bush as the Republican nominee. Heavy weights (and heavy wallets) all came to him and much was made that NO one could withstand the latest scion of the Bush Dynastic Family reputation or money machine. Yeah, this is why we play the game – and thus far, we can tell who is playing the better game
Snot Shot – Jeb: “You’re never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency”
Reality Chaser – Trump: “Let’s see I’m at 42 and you’re at 3”
And now:
Shot – Jeb: Desperation time?
CNN: Jeb Bush’s campaign is drastically shifting its resources from the airwaves to the field, scrapping large advertising buys in early-voting states in hopes of reviving his floundering bid for the presidency.
Officials told CNN Wednesday that the campaign will cancel $3 million in reserved television advertising in Iowa and South Carolina and is preparing to spend its money deploying upwards of 60 campaign staffers from its Miami headquarters to the first four voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. The move will double the staffer presence in New Hampshire to more than 40…
WaPo: Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is canceling reserved advertising time in Iowa and scaling back his advertising in South Carolina, campaign aides said Wednesday, a sign of his continuing struggles to connect with voters.
Instead, Bush plans to deploy more staff to the first four states holding contests next year — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Staffing in New Hampshire will double to 40, and the Bush team in Iowa will grow to about 20, aides said. Staffing in South Carolina and Nevada will be in the low teens…
RedState: Jeb campaign cutting losses in Iowa and South Carolina? [UPDATE: New Hampshire is the firewall.]… If he’s yanking cash out of the market, it suggests that New Hampshire is going to be the Bush campaign’s firewall. Whether or not that works is going to be one of the interesting questions of January.
Chaser – Trump: Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he plans on spending at least $2 million a week on his presidential campaign in the new year, a change of pace for the self-funding billionaire businessman as the 2016 GOP primary season kicks into high gear.
Trump told reporters aboard his plane following a rally in Iowa: “I’ll be spending a minimum of $2 million a week and perhaps substantially more than that.
My campaign for president is $35,000,000 under budget, I have spent very little (and am in 1st place).Now I will spend big in Iowa/N.H./S.C.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2015
So I’m going to be doing big ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and they will be very substantial and I think they’re very well done.”
He also confirmed the decision via Twitter later in the evening:
Well, here in NH, if Jeb thinks he’s gonna win the GOPe lead, he’s working slimmer pickings than what he might have thought earlier this year. The Sununu Family Dynasty, who I thought would have gone Bush, went to Kasich. However, many of the other Establishment folk “Names” have gone, rather late but in big numbers, for Christie and whose poll numbers have gone up substantially (relatively speaking).
So, is the GOPe tide already going out and leaving Jeb on the beach? Has the Jeb! strategy team not seen these moves already? Or is this not a firewall but a Hail Mary move?
If so, he’d better be learning French translation of the Hail Mary because Spanish isn’t going to do him much good here in NH. Not so much a “Bienvenue”, but probably an “Au revoir!”
Background: Who is going up and who is going down?
(Image H/T: Independent Journal Review)
