Bush launches retooled 'Jeb Can Fix It' campaign
Seeking to reset his struggling presidential campaign, Jeb Bush began a new phase Monday designed to stress his experience as governor of Florida and question the qualifications of his opponents.
"This election is not about a set of personalities -- it’s about a set of principles," Bush said during a speech in Tampa that kicked off tours of Florida and two early Republican primary states, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
Bush, the one-time front-runner who now finds himself trailing Donald Trump, Ben Carson and other opponents, argued that he can bring his Florida experience to Washington, D.C., when it comes to items like tax cuts and deregulation. The former governor described Florida as "a big, diverse state, shaped by conservative, results-oriented leadership."
As part of the new tour dubbed "Jeb Can Fix It," the Bush campaign released an e-book of emails Bush wrote during his years at the statehouse in Tallahassee (1999-2007), discussing various issues that ranged from changing lawsuit rule changes to a complaint about a raccoon in the attack.
Advertising the book to a friendly crowd in Tampa, Bush said the e-mails reminded him of "the challenges we tackled together and how much can be accomplished with strong, conservative leadership."
The revamped effort comes in the wake of campaign cutbacks and criticism of Bush's debate performances and stump appearances. Trump in particular has attacked Bush as a "low energy" candidate.
Bush, who has acknowledged the need to step up his campaign, told the crowd he is getting a lot of stylistic and strategic advice these days -- "more than enough" -- but his time in Florida taught him two lessons.
“One, I can’t be someone I’m not," Bush said. "And, two, getting things done isn’t about yelling into a camera, or regurgitating sound bites free of substance."
He also said: "We're gonna win this damn thing."
The former governor said he is better prepared than opponents who have little or no experience in public office, a group that could be said to include Trump and Carson as well as first-term Florida senator Marco Rubio.
"The challenges we face as a nation are too great to roll the dice on another presidential experiment, to trust the rhetoric of reform over a record of reform," Bush said.
Bush singled out Trump, the Republican front-runner, by saying, "you can’t just tell Congress 'you’re fired' and go to a commercial break."
The son and bother of previous Presidents Bush also criticized the Obama administration, saying the current president and his aides practice "the politics of divide and conquer" that encourage cynicism.
Those aides have included ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"If Secretary Clinton has her way," Bush said, "the next four years will be like the last eight: Gridlock, grievance, division, demonization. This is the only way they know how to win."
Echoing his new campaign theme, Bush said that "after seven years of incompetence, corruption and gridlock in Washington, we need a president who can fix it ... I can fix it."