Did Jeb presage end of his campaign in SC speech?
Jeb Bush said in a Thursday speech in South Carolina that he hoped his listeners "don't think the end is near." Was he talking about optimism in the face of the doom-and-gloom in the Republican race for president? Or was he talking about his own campaign?
ROCK Hill, S.C. – Jeb Bush, his voice husky with emotion, asked for votes during an evening town-hall Thursday before he took questions, but at the end of the pitch he seemed to some listeners to foreshadow the end of his campaign.
Bush said he wanted to lead by not dividing the country, and to defeat Hillary Clinton and to foster an American ethic "where we're hopeful and optimistic again, where we unite again around a set of common purposes."
He continued: "I hope that you believe it is possible for us to do this. I hope you don't think the end is near. (emphasis added) And if you believe like I do that if we fix these things [that] this will be the most extraordinary time to be alive, on Saturday you can reset this race. You have that power."
Now, Bush was speaking in a broad sense of the nation's problems and the need to face them with optimism and unity, but the possibility of a more personal meaning is hard to ignore given his own struggling campaign.
The former Florida governor, after a stronger than expected finish in New Hampshire, had hopes of a good showing in the Palmetto State, but he has averaged about 10 percent in recent polls here. That puts him in range of a third place finish, but if he falls lower than that, some of his major donors have expressed doubts about the wisdom of continuing to fight.