Sept. 18, 2015: Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at a presidential forum sponsored by Heritage Action at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)
A super PAC that supported Jeb Bush and called itself “Vamos for Jeb,” which translates into “We’re going for Jeb,” has gone – really gone.
Expressing exasperation about setbacks with Bush’s campaign, the PAC informed the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday that it is ceasing its operation, according to Politico.
One of the heads of the PAC, political website Elephant News founder Claire Hardwick, told Politico she started it with Nicaraguan-American Andrea Wong to highlight Latino support for Bush, who initially was expected to be the front-runner for the GOP nomination in the presidential race.
"When Jeb Bush first announced he was going to run we thought he was really going to be the president to go for it and unite Hispanics with Americans, but then obviously Donald Trump came in the picture and completely changed everything," Hardwick was quoted as saying in Politico. "We got a lot of followers. I still do think he will be the candidate to appeal to the Hispanics."
Hardwick said to Politico that her efforts now would focus more generally on the presidential election.
"I think they are still really excited about him, but they just don't have as much attention," Hardwick said, according to Politico. "That's something Vamos for Jeb did, it kind of showed how excited Hispanic Americans were for Jeb Bush."
Bush, who was popular in Florida as governor and was seen as moderate on many issues, appeared to launch his campaign with the front-runner halo, given his experience, family political legacy and hefty coffers.
But Trump upended things in this election cycle from the start, with his headline-grabbing jaw-dropping comments when he announced his candidacy, and later, when he defied the many predictions that he’d quickly crash and burn.
Trump succeeded in putting Bush on the defensive too, relentlessly mocking his “low energy” – an image that Bush had trouble shaking, particularly with ho-hum performances in the GOP debates.
With the first presidential contests in the nation fast approaching, in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush is trailing many other GOP contenders, according to an MSNBC report.
He is not in the top four slots in either Iowa, where Sen. Ted Cruz and Trump are battling it out at about the 25 percent spot among likely caucus-goers, followed by Marco Rubio with 13 percent, Ben Carson, who has 11 percent, then Bush with 9 percent.
It doesn’t get much better in New Hampshire, where Bush got 9 percent again, trailing Trump, who got 30 percent, Rubio, with 14 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, with 12 percent, and Cruz, who got 10 percent.
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