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Jeb Bush's presidential campaign has a problem. The Bush name has been golden in Republican politics for a generation, but that goodwill doesn't appear to be rubbing off on the latest Bush to run for president. That's what NPR's Don Gonyea found in Iowa, even among voters who should be open to Jeb Bush's message.
UNIDENTIFIED QUARTET: (Singing) I'll paint a ray of hope around you.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: A barbershop quartet strolls the halls prior to the annual Ronald Reagan dinner in the Mississippi River town of Bettendorf, Iowa last night.
UNIDENTIFIED QUARTET: (Singing) I'll never let you go.
GONYEA: Jeb Bush is the headliner at the kind of event that attracts hundreds of establishment, old-school Republicans. This should be his natural base. But before the speech, skepticism about his candidacy was obvious.
JIM DAVIS: I would like to think that Jeb Bush is going to build up and get a little bit of steam behind his campaign.
GONYEA: Eighty-one-year-old Jim Davis is a former chairman of the local GOP.
DAVIS: That's been a disappointing factor up to this point in time, was the lack of appeal that he's had.
GONYEA: He's been here a lot.
DAVIS: Yeah, yeah. He's done the right thing, but it hasn't caught on.
GONYEA: Davis is undecided on a candidate, as are husband and wife Tim and Marty Berchtold of nearby Davenport.
TIM BERCHTOLD: We like Rubio. We like Carly Fiorina. We like Kasich. I love the drama of Donald Trump, so...
GONYEA: You love the drama of Donald Trump.
T. BERCHTOLD: Yeah.
MARTY BERCHTOLD: I like Donald Trump.
GONYEA: And then something interesting. She says that she also loved the first two Presidents Bush, just not the current candidate with that name.
M. BERCHTOLD: He has the name, but I don't know if he can back it up.
GONYEA: And the name isn't a disqualifier for you like it is for some people?
M. BERCHTOLD: No. No, no, no, no, no because I like the name. I just don't feel like he backs it up like the other two did.
GONYEA: And in this year of outsiders in the GOP race, Bush is trying to play to that, too. This is from the Reagan dinner.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEB BUSH: What we need to do is disrupt Washington, to challenge every aspect of what it does, to take it on.
(APPLAUSE)
GONYEA: You can hear the polite applause. Bush was well received, but much of the audience was sizing him up. Then this morning, an hour south along the river in the town of Muscatine, a man at a coffee shop asked Bush about all of the non-politicians sitting atop the polls.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BUSH: So if the election was held in the first week of October, I'd say uh-oh.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: What's your strategy?
BUSH: Well, my strategy is to share my record. Did you know that I cut taxes every year totaling $19 billion? You knew it - great. Well, you're an informed voter. Most people don't.
GONYEA: Then Bush spoke of the nuts and bolts of a campaign in ways candidates don't often do.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BUSH: And I'm going to do something really novel. It's called advertising.
GONYEA: Like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Proven conservative, real results - Jeb.
GONYEA: The ad is paid for by a super PAC, and right now, that super PAC is spending almost three times as much on advertising as anyone else. Bush joked that he asked some car dealers if they can sell more Fords if they put up some ads.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BUSH: I've got to tell the Jeb story. I've got to say who I am. I've got to show my heart.
GONYEA: Bush and his campaign insist that it's still early. But given who he is, they didn't expect to be in the position they're in now - trying to find new ways to introduce someone who entered the race a household name. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Muscatine, Iowa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
