JEB BUSH FACES FAMILY HISTORY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Name ‘an issue’ in key state but not insurmountable
The New Hampshire primary has been both heaven and hell for the Bushes.
Now, Jeb Bush is in political purgatory, Granite State-style.
The successes and failures of his father and brother hang over the former Florida governor as he faces what might be a must win in February’s New Hampshire primary — and voters who lined a July Fourth parade route this weekend in Amherst had plenty of advice for the latest Bush presidential candidate.
“Change his name?” joked Donni Hodgkins as she helped prepare a float sponsored by Souhegan Valley Republican Women.
Micah Dyson, an Atlanta-area resident visiting family in New Hampshire, attracted the attention of the candidate with a Tshirt reading, “Bush Hat Trick.”
Bush’s name is probably “an issue,” Dyson said, but not an insurmountable one: “He’s got to represent himself. He’s got to make sure he’s his own man.”
Jeb Bush has long said he is different from his father and brother and plans to make his case with New Hampshire-style retail politics: voter by voter.
People in New Hampshire literally tell you “‘nice first meeting — after we meet four or five more times, you know, I’ll consider supporting you,’ ” Bush told reporters after marching in parades in Amherst and Merrimack.
The Bush family has been part of New Hampshire’s political landscape for decades.
The state ruined one Bush candidacy and nearly ruined another. It also launched the family patriarch, George H.W. Bush, toward the White House in 1988.
In 1980, George H.W. Bush launched his presidential campaign career with an upset win in Iowa, defeating favorite Ronald Reagan. The elder Bush roared into New Hampshire with what he called “Big Mo,” but got blown out by a re-energized Reagan.
Bush, then Reagan’s vice president, returned to that primary eight years later, this time coming off a third-place finish in Iowa. A win over Bob Dole rebooted his campaign, and he went on to claim the White House.
His eldest son, George W. Bush, hit the streets of New Hampshire in 2000 but lost big to John McCain. The second Bush needed a win in South Carolina to steady his campaign.
Looking to Jeb Bush’s bid in New Hampshire, some analysts said he might benefit from his father’s example, emphasizing economic issues and bidding for independents who are eligible to vote in the Republican primary.
Though the senior Bush had called Texas home for decades, many New Hampshire residents saw him as a fellow Northeasterner. After all, he grew up in Connecticut and had a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
George W. Bush owned a ranch near Crawford, Texas. New Hampshire voters tended to see him as pure Texan, and his social conservatism did not play as well in a state where economic issues often hold more sway.
Having participated in New Hampshire primaries since 1964, Tom Rath, who supported both previous Bush candidates and has not yet endorsed in this race, said doing well in the state is “sort of a ticket to admission to the rest of the campaign.” A number in the high 20s could win, he said.