For a few months now, Jeb Bush's campaign has been insisting that the Jeb! Comeback is on, and that the media should get in on the ground floor of this amazing narrative. Well, the Iowa results are in. Here's how the comeback is going.
Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during a campaign stop at New England College, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, in Henniker, N.H
AP Photo/Jim Cole
Monday night, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush became the third member of his family to participate in the Iowa caucus. His father, George H.W. Bush, faced Iowa voters in 1988 -- when he finished third with 19 percent of the vote -- and in 1992, when he won unopposed. Brother George W. Bush did even better, finishing first in 2000 with 41 percent of the vote, and winning unopposed four years later. How did Jeb stack up? Uhhhhhh ... well, here are the numbers.
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Poll average going into the Iowa caucus: 3.9 percent
Percentage of vote in the Iowa caucus: 2.8 percent
Standing in the polls before caucus: Fifth
Place he finished after votes were in: Sixth
Amount of money spent by Right to Rise, in Iowa: $14.1 million
Amount of money taken in by Right to Rise in the last fundraising quarter: $15.1 million
Amount of that donation provided by former AIG numbskull Hank Greenberg:$10 million
Money spent on ads per vote: $2,800 (based on voter turnout estimate of 180,000)
Money spent on ads per vote by Marco Rubio: $280 (based on voter turnout estimate of 180,000)
Number of tweets sent by Right To Rise troll Twitter account, "@IsMarcoWorking":Two.
Number of tweets, post caucus, in which a Jeb donor compares the experience of funding the campaign with the Bataan Death March:One.
Likelihood that Jeb is still "happy to not be the front-runner": Nil.
Number of delegates won in Iowa: One.
Which means he trails the leader, Ted Cruz, by how many delegates? Actually ... just seven! See you in New Hampshire!
This has been the Jeb! Comeback Watch for Feb. 2. Jeb Bush finished in sixth place in Iowa (2.8 percent). He is currently in fifth place in New Hampshire (8.9 percent), fourth place in South Carolina (8.7 percent) and fifth place nationally (5.6 percent).
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Jason Linkins edits "Eat The Press" for The Huffington Post and co-hosts the HuffPost politics podcast, "So, That Happened." Subscribe here. Listen to the latest episode below.
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