Reporters following Jeb Bush's campaign say that although they might not support him, there’s a level of personal sympathy for the former Florida governor. | Getty Bush's media corps feels his pain As the ex-front runner struggles, he gets sympathy from an unusual quarter — reporters covering his campaign.

At a recent campaign Jeb Bush event in South Carolina, three voters in a row who were supposed to be asking him questions instead started giving the gentle-spirited candidate, who once pledged to run a “joyful” campaign, advice on how to be sharper.

It felt more like an intervention than a town hall. Reporters sitting at a table reserved for the press recalled making rueful eye contact with each other, with the unsaid sentiment, “Poor Jeb.”


Bush has had the media’s pity for months now. Reporters following the Bush campaign insist that it’s not that they support him or are rooting for him at all. But there’s a level of personal sympathy for the former Florida governor, for the man who was supposed to be the front runner but hasn’t been close to the top in months.

One correspondent for a major television network opined in New Hampshire that Bush was supposed to be “the” candidate, the one with the pedigree, experience, and money to go the distance.

In addition, the correspondent said, Bush often does well on the ground with voters, but that has not translated to television in an election in which the front runner made his mark with reality TV.

“Yes, I feel badly for him. He's hopelessly miscast in this race and, worst of all, he knows it,” wrote Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza in January.

GQ put together a list of “15 of Jeb Bush’s saddest moments” with the accompanying article "How Jeb Bush Lost His Political Mojo but Won Our Pity."

Back in the long ago days of the summer of 2015, Bush was riding high. In June he took a five-day trip to Europe, replete with full traveling press corps who paid thousands a piece to join him as he attended meetings that included NATO briefings. It all looked very presidential.

But soon, the Donald Trump hurricane tore through Bush’s carefully laid plans — and those of many media outlets. After Hillary Clinton, Bush was the most sought-after assignment in many newsrooms. Top-notch reporters who competed to cover Bush continued vetting him like a traditional candidate. Meanwhile, Trump used social media and a kinetic stump style to upend the very idea of a traditional campaign.

Soon, some reporters who had been assigned to cover Bush full time were reassigned or sent on rotations to other candidates. Some have made it back to Bush in the past few weeks, looking for a surge or, perhaps, a death watch.

"Jeb Bush’s presidential ambitions embody a type of double misfortune found when every ounce of effort shows through — even to painfully uncomfortable degrees — but almost none of it pays off,” wrote MSNBC’s Amanda Sakuma on the network’s web site.

One reporter covering Bush for a major newspaper said that Bush comes off as deeply human. Reporters have felt a sense of poignancy in watching him struggle, something that has been reflected in their coverage. It’s not sympathy, the reporter contended, but rather a simple sense of sadness at watching someone fighting against forces outside his control. Others said Bush simply comes off as a "decent guy."

Bush is also frequently available for the press, holding regular gaggles, sitting for interviews. His staff, particularly those on the press team, are also considered consummate campaign professionals, willing to engage with reporters. At the same time, that team (and the candidate himself) constantly complain about their coverage, claiming that the media is being far from fair in their coverage.

"We knew and expected there would be a higher bar for us — that is totally understandable and Jeb has an even higher bar on himself,” said Bush communications director Tim Miller in an email. “Trump blatantly lies daily and most of the media has given up fact-checking. “

"Poor, Awkward Jeb Bush Is Giving People Secondhand Embarrassment” was the headline in a New York Magazine piece — in the science section — about why others feel embarrassed for Bush.

"Psychologists call the feeling vicarious embarrassment; the German word for it is Fremdscham, which translates literally to “external shame.” One of the most basic, primal human instincts is to keep up your standing within your social group,” wrote reporter Melissa Dahl.

The day before the New Hampshire primary, minutes before Bush entered the room at the Nashua Rotary Club for a speech, a pianist and two singers began to sing “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

The musical selection from there, though instrumental only, got more wistful, from “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera to the jazz standard “Misty.”

"Look at me, I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree,” the lyrics go.

The Bush campaign had nothing to do with the music choice. But the reporters huddled in the corner of the banquet hall couldn’t help but notice the selection seemed to perfectly match the campaign’s mood.

As the candidate himself walked by the press corps, he asked how “my people” were doing.

The reporters laughed awkwardly as one asked if the candidate was planning to sing with the pianist.

No, Bush replied.