Bush plans to win 2016 GOP caucus, but says straw poll ‘irrelevant’

IOWA CITY - It's very simple, Jeb Bush says about his decision not to participate in the Iowa GOP Straw Poll.

'I just don't do straw polls,” the former Florida governor said after speaking at a fundraiser for Sen. Chuck Grassley's re-election at the University Club in Iowa City Saturday afternoon.

Bush, who was in seventh place with 5 percent support among likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers in a recent Quinnipiac University Poll, said that if he becomes a candidate - and he's giving every indication he will - he intends to win everywhere he competes.

'My intention is to win. Period. I am a competitive person. My hope is to win any place I am competing,” he said. Pressed whether that included Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses, Bush replied, 'Why would I be here if I wasn't going to compete in Iowa?”

Bush, who spoke in Dubuque and for about 10 minutes to more than 80 people in Iowa City on his way to the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines, was sharply criticized by state party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann for opting out of the Aug. 8 straw poll.

'We hope Gov. Bush rethinks his decision and realizes that grass roots will only grow in Iowa if he waters them,” Kaufmann tweeted about Bush's decision to attend a four-day forum in South Carolina rather than the straw poll.

'We don't buy this excuse and neither will Iowans,” Kaufmann said, adding 'other candidates have already indicated that they will be attending both.”

Bush defended his decision, saying the straw poll is not relevant to winning the caucuses, the GOP nomination or the general election.

'All the resources ought to go the thing that matters, which is the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1,” he said. 'What's relevant is running a campaign, creating a strategy, building a good team toward success, which is in the primaries, and doing it in a way that makes it possible to actually win the general election, which is the whole objective.”

Grassley made clear he was not endorsing Bush and is unlikely to endorse any of the 201276 hopefuls. However, he defended Bush's decision to skip the primary.

'Each campaign has to follow its own strategy, make their own decisions,” he said. 'I respect those decisions.”