Jeb Bush is taking his most memorable line from last night’s Republican debate to the campaign trail, trying to ensure early state voters see the energized candidate’s Donald Trump zinger.
After Trump called George W. Bush’s administration a “disaster,” Bush defended his brother, telling the billionaire, “He kept us safe.”
Now, the Bush campaign is aggressively promoting the video online in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
The push includes advertising a link to the video when early state voters search for information about Bush, his brother, Trump, the debate and foreign policy. Campaign officials are using the video to drive email signups and are using a related graphic on Twitter and testing it with South Carolina Facebook users, Bush spokesman Tim Miller said.
After a summer of missteps, Bush finally seemed to crack the code of how to simultaneously defend his brother’s foreign policy while standing apart from it during Wednesday’s CNN debate.
Bush drew widespread criticism early in his campaign when he repeatedly bungled questions about whether he would have invaded Iraq. Last month, Bush gave a speech about how to defeat ISIS and critics questioned Bush’s decision to invoke his brother.
“That strategy was vindicated last night in that exchange,” Miller said. “And this is an issue that he can win on and it’s an issue primary voters respond to.”
It’s a strategy Bush will continue to build on, talking about the debate moment and a muscular foreign policy on the stump over the next two days.
“It’s a stark contrast between him and Trump and also him and Hillary Clinton,” Miller said.
