Bush targets Clinton, not rivals

JOHNSTON - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, buoyed by an improved debate performance and the backing of GOP 'icon” Bob Dole, returned to Iowa Wednesday focused on bolstering his Iowa support and taking the campaign fight to Democrat Hillary Clinton rather than his Republican rivals.

Bush opened a day of Iowa campaigning with an hourlong stop at a Hy-Vee store in Johnston where he poured coffee for military veterans being treated to a free breakfast on Veterans Day while shaking hands, answering questions and even donning veteran Bob Wilson's yellow University of Iowa hat with a black Tiger Hawk emblem to give an army of camera-wielding reporters their 'photo op.”

'I'll probably get in trouble with Iowa State, right?” he asked as he returned the hat. 'I got the photo out of it. Thank you, guys, thank you for your service.”

Bush got a big political slap on the back himself Wednesday with the endorsement from Dole, a former Republican U.S. senator from Kansas who twice won Iowa's first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses in 1988 and 1996 who backed the ex-Florida governor's bid in the 2016 GOP presidential sweepstakes that opens Feb. 1 in Iowa.

In a statement, Dole - the GOP's presidential nominee in 1996 who lost to incumbent Democrat Bill Clinton - said he considers 'nearly all the Republican candidates to be my friends, but I have determined that Jeb Bush is the most qualified. Jeb has the proven leadership skills and executive experience needed to fix the problems facing our country.”

Dole, who is a World War II veteran, pledged 'do all I can to be helpful to Jeb's campaign” in his new role as Bush's national veterans' chairman.

'Bob Dole is an American hero. I'm so honored to have his support. Bob Dole is someone who is just an iconic political figure. I admire him so much. He reminds me of my dad,” Bush told an interviewer on a Fox News morning show.

'He's a great American, a great patriot. I'm a huge Bob Dole fan,” Bush said in brief remarks with reporters after devoting his first stop to honoring the tables of veterans that followed a quick turnaround with little sleep from the overtime debate in Milwaukee Tuesday night.

Several veterans complimented Bush on his debate performance while he did his coffee-pour duties. He stopped to fill the coffee cup of a veteran holding a newspaper. 'What's the Wall Street Journal say?” the former governor asked. 'Bush struggles to regroup,” he said, reading a headline aloud, 'what are they talking about?”

Bush later told reporters he thought he had a good performance this week but expected he would do even better in future debates.

'I thought it was fine. I did well. I talked about issues that are important to people. We need to start thinking about -- ‘Who's the person who can beat Hillary Clinton? -- rather than trying to get into small differences between each campaign.

'The big difference is Hillary Clinton will double-down on a failed economic policy and I have the leadership skills to fix these complex things to allow people to rise up again. That's what I'm going to focus on.”