Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lost to a satirical presidential candidate in a straw poll of New Hampshire voters at a Republican Liberty Caucus event. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won the straw poll overwhelmingly, but “Honest” Gil Fulbright stole the show.
Fulbright lampooned several of the Republican presidential candidates — including Bush — in a speech at the event. He told the crowd that Fulbright was a “lifelong Republican — or a Democrat, depending on who’s buying.”
“As some president said once, I’m paraphrasing here, ask not what your country can do for you, pay a lobbyist to ask your country what it can do for you,” Fulbright told the crowd. “My point is — and I do have one — I will say anything to get your money. There it is. Liberty, eagle, Ronald Reagan. Thank you.”
Fulbright ran a similar satirical Senate campaign in Kentucky during the 2014 midterm elections, and appears to be looking to gain even more attention in advance of 2016.
“Now there are some naysayers out there that say I can’t win,” Fulbright told the New Hampshire crowd. “Some claim that I’m fake. Some say that I’m making a mockery of the entire political process. Well friends, these are just strong traits that I share with many of my fellow candidates. Now others have pointed out that I’m not actually on the ballot anywhere, but despite this obstacle I’m still in a dead heat with Lindsey Graham.”
Fulbright reportedly received the support of 1.5 percent of straw poll voters, while Bush received 1.2 percentage points. Bush has also suffered from mockery on all corners of the Internet, as some took to Photoshopping his appearance as a stand-in weatherman for a Des Moines NBC station. The Bush campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment on the results of the straw poll.
Bush, who ranks sixth in the Washington Examiner‘s GOP presidential power rankings, fares much better in statewide polling of New Hampshire and finishes fourth in RealClearPolitics’ average of Granite State surveys.
