Manchester, N.H.
There was a smattering of applause here at the Jeb Bush election-night party as Wolf Blitzer announced that CNN would be projecting the winners for both parties’ presidential primaries. That applause dissipated quickly once Blitzer said, right after 8:00, what had been long predicted: Donald Trump would win the first primary in the nation.
A few boos gurgled out from the small crowd gathered at Manchester Community College before those, too, fell silent. The Bush supporters, who at the time barely outnumbered the members of the media here, kept munching on finger foods. The mood in the room, already largely flat since people began filing in shortly before 7:00, had deflated completely. The large screen projecting CNN switched channels, first to HLN, then to Fox News, then back to CNN, just in time for anchor Jake Tapper to pronounce Tuesday a “bad night for the Republican establishment.”
Tapper might as well have substituted “Jeb Bush” for “Republican establishment.” Much of that establishment had coalesced early around Bush’s candidacy last year as the campaign and its supportive super PAC Right to Rise gobbled up talent and donors. Once Bush’s numbers started trending downward last summer, the campaign struggled to figure out how it could regain its footing. Then it aimed its sights at Bush’s “establishment-lane” rivals like Marco Rubio, with Right to Rise deploying millions in ad money against the Florida senator.
In the final weeks and months before the New Hampshire primary, Bush began fashioning himself as the only candidate willing to call out Trump. The former Florida governor even finally got a good shot in at Saturday’s debate about Trump’s attempts to take advantage of eminent domain law for his own private purposes. But at least in New Hampshire, it seems to have been all for naught.
The next question is, can Bush pull out a second-place finish here to give him a chance for the nomination? The results were still coming in as both CNN and Fox News did live shots from the Bush party. The now-larger crowd showed its first signs of life, shouting and chanting “Jeb!” as the vote totals kept ticking upward for Bush, sticking him in third-place behind Trump and John Kasich, for now.
