WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeb Bush is hinting strongly that his closing argument to New Hampshire voters will be about U.S. military buildup specifically aimed at defeating the Islamic State group.
In a new television advertisement Monday, the former Florida governor, whose campaign rests on how he competes in the leadoff primary next month, features excerpts from a speech he delivered last month in South Carolina. The ad debuted as he gears up for a three-day campaign trip in New Hampshire beginning Tuesday.
Bush has called for a broad international coalition led by the United States and Arab nations to destroy the group, now rooted in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region. The group claimed responsibility for the November bombings and shootings in Paris in which roughly 130 were killed. U.S. residents, said to have been loyal to the militant group, were also responsible for the deadly shootings in San Bernadino, Calif. last month.
Though Bush is not a military veteran, he has been traveling throughout New Hampshire frequently with retired military veterans and Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, to boost his national security credentials. The ad features footage from a speech gave at the Military College of the South, known as the Citadel, in Charleston South Carolina last month.
Bush is scheduled to campaign in Dover Tuesday.
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