DES MOINES, Iowa -- The voting hasn't even begun, but several Republican presidential candidates seem to have already given up on winning the Iowa caucuses.
Traditionally, candidates attend a caucus night party along with their campaign and supporters, where they await the results and sometimes even deliver a speech. But not former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who are instead focusing on the New Hampshire primary.
Kasich held his last event in Iowa on Friday, while Bush and Christie continued to hold events throughout the weekend.
The three establishment candidates are polling in the low single digits among Iowa caucus-goers, far behind real estate mogul Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio. The current and former governors have essentially decided to bet it all on the Granite State, where Trump leads by a double-digit margin. Still, a second or third place finish with the state's more independent voters could give their struggling campaigns a crucial lift heading into South Carolina.
The failure to catch fire in Iowa is perhaps most embarrassing for Bush, whose supporting super PAC aired nearly $15 million in ads in the Hawkeye State -- more than any other Republican candidate. Despite not sticking around for the caucuses, Bush held a town hall event in downtown Des Moines earlier Monday where he spoke about the budget deficit and continued his very polite critique of Trump.
"Just for the record, I wasn't bankrupt four times," he said, referring to the mogul's business failures.
Despite saying they liked what they saw, many of the voters who turned up to see Bush on Monday openly doubted whether his Trump naysaying would matter when the votes are finally tallied Monday evening.
"I think it's going to go the way that I don't want it to go," said Carmen, who declined to give her last name but is caucusing for the former governor. "I'm not going to name names, but I don't think Jeb Bush is going to come out on top. And I wish that he would."
Gene Mitchell, a political junkie from Chicago who drove to Iowa to check out the pre-caucus chaos, laughed at how ready Bush seemed for the Iowa vote to be over.
"Jeb Bush is evaporating. He can't get to New Hampshire quick enough," said Mitchell, who's a supporter of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. "He's like, 'Bye! Thanks!'"
Jennifer Bendery contributed reporting.
Also on HuffPost:
