Jeb Bush(Photo: Ricardo Arduengo, AP)
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Jeb Bush says he's not reducing his presidential campaign, he is simply<span style="color: Red;">*</span>refocusing it with an eye toward the early caucus and primary states.
"We've<span style="color: Red;">*</span>made<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an adjustment in our campaign," Bush said Saturday before conducting a town hall in the pivotal state of South Carolina. "That's what leaders do."
Stumping the Palmetto State a day after his campaign announced staff reductions and pay cuts, Bush dismissed critics who said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the changes reflect a struggling campaign that is losing ground to any number of rivals.
"Blah, blah, blah," Bush said. "That's my answer — blah, blah, blah."
The cuts came after a slide in polls that now show the former Florida governor well behind Donald Trump, Ben Carson<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and other Republican candidates, creating some unrest among Bush donors.
In response, Bush cited a number of candidates who have held early leads in Republican contests and then faded, a list that ranges from Herman Cain to Rudy Giuliani. John McCain, meanwhile, rallied from internal campaign troubles to win the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
"October is not when you elect people," Bush said before hosting a town hall at a Catholic<span style="color: Red;">*</span>high school in Charleston. "It's February, and then you move into March."
Bush said his efforts now focus on four contests in February: The Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, the South Carolina primary<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and the Nevada caucuses. He said he is also taking aim at a March 1 group of primaries, including key southern states like Georgia and Texas.
"We have a campaign that is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>designed to win," Bush said. "And I'm<span style="color: Red;">*</span>going to win."
In discussing his campaign changes, Bush<span style="color: Red;">*</span>also talked about the changing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nature of the Republican race. He cited a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"new phenomenon" of candidates who have risen in the polls without any previous political experience, an apparent reference to Donald Trump and Ben Carson. He described them as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"the frontrunners right now" who will be "held to account, just like all of us will."
Later Saturday morning, Bush again<span style="color: Red;">*</span>referred to the early Republican<span style="color: Red;">*</span>contests during the town hall hosted by Sen.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tim Scott, R-S.C., talking up the importance of South Carolina in the primary process on several occasions.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"The February states are important," Bush said.
Scott — who has not yet endorsed in the primary — said after the town hall<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he doesn't think<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Bush's campaign<span style="color: Red;">*</span>changes will hurt him in South Carolina. The senator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>compared the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>slim-down to the diet that Bush himself<span style="color: Red;">*</span>used to lose weight.
"I think he's doing the Paleo diet to his campaign," Scott said.
Also appearing at the town hall: U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>two days after chairing a hearing in which Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton testified about the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya.
"I don't know what y'all were doing Thursday," Gowdy told the supportive crowd. "I had a rough Thursday."
Democrats have accused Gowdy of conducting a partisan investigation designed to target Clinton's presidential campaign.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Bush and Scott praised the South Carolina congressman for seeking the truth about the attack that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
"I've been in the limelight myself a few times," Bush said. "And it's not easy."
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