U.S. News & World Report got itself a nice scoop last night by obtaining a 112-page internal Jeb Bush campaign document that outlines the flagging former governor’s strategy for the Iowa and New Hampshire presidential caucus/primaries and outlines potential lines of attack against rival “establishment” candidate Marco Rubio. (A similar, shorter strategy document that was intentionally released to reporters a few days ago raised eyebrows by referring to Rubio as the “GOP Obama,” which was apparently supposed to be an insult.) Some of the takeaways from the leaked document:
- Bush thinks the personal finance problems that Rubio shrugged off at Wednesday’s debate could be serious liabilities for him.
- Bush is planning to spend $11 million on an “advertising blitz” in January, of which half will be spent in New Hampshire.
- Bush doesn’t think he can win Iowa but is aiming to get 18 percent of caucus votes there (he’s currently at 6 percent).
Far and away, though, the best detail in the piece is this gem, which U.S. News mentions very casually:
They’ll need that message to be heeded in order to make it to their fourth-quarter fundraising rollout, scheduled for Dec. 5 at the trendy Art Basel in Miami. The event is called, “Pop Art, Politics & Jeb.”
What now!?! For those who aren’t familiar with Art Basel, it is a hip art-fashion-film-advertising exhibition/series of parties at which you will see people like James Franco. It is in other words a very unlikely place to find a Republican presidential candidate who is noticeably awkward even compared with other Republican politicians. And Pop Art of course was a movement commonly associated with Andy Warhol, a gay man and amphetamine enthusiast who is not a noted hero of most Republican primary voters. (Warhol did, however, reportedly once say, “I know I should be for the Republicans, because I hate paying taxes.”)
Here’s an illustration for the event included in the leaked U.S. News document:
Screenshot/Via U.S. News
Amazing.
