There is "no path forward" for Jeb Bush's campaign after Saturday's primary election in South Carolina, rival GOP presidential candidate John Kasich's chief strategist said Saturday.
"For all practical purposes, there’s no path forward for Gov. Bush," the campaign official, John Weaver said during a Saturday strategy briefing with reporters, reports
The Washington Post.
"There’s no state post-South Carolina where he’s not either last or close to last."
The Ohio governor is not far ahead of Bush in South Carolina, with polls showing him in a possible fourth-place battle with the former Florida governor. However, in national polls, Kasich is in fourth place behind Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, according to
Real Clear Politics, with Ben Carson and then Bush picking up the final two spots.
Weaver, though, told reporters that there will be just four candidates coming out of South Carolina and heading in the large slate of primaries in March, and Kasich will be in that crowd, as he's been hiring staff and opening offices in March primary states. Ohio, Kasich's home state, will hold its primary election on March 15.
The Bush campaign fired back on Saturday at Weaver's assertions, saying that it expects to defeat Kasich and plans to campaign in Nevada, and that the Ohio governor has not planned any events before Tuesday's GOP caucuses.
"John Kasich is running a zombie campaign that exists only in three states in the hopes that he can gain some cache in the vice presidential sweepstakes," said Bush spokesman Tim Miller.
"They do not even pretend to have a plan to earn the delegates needed to win the nomination. This is just a classless attempt to impact the vote in a state [South Carolina] that John Kasich cut and run from a few days ago."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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