In this Jan. 8, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks during a town hall meeting at Dyar’s Diner in Pendelton, S.C. Bush is trying to reach deeper to show voters the man inside as he fights for his political survival ahead of New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary. AP
MEREDITH, New Hampshire — 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush describes himself as a policy nerd, and insurgent rival Donald Trump has tagged him “low energy.” But Bush is reaching deep to show voters the man inside as he fights for his political survival ahead of the New Hampshire primary vote.
In the competition to decide who will face likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election, billionaire Trump leads national polls among an unpredictable mix of a dozen hopefuls with vastly different visions for the party and the country.
But Bush, the former governor of Florida who has been in the rear of the pack and fighting for survival, is speaking more passionately at campaign stops, and not just in outrage toward Trump. He’s offering a closer look inside his heart — chiefly as the father of a former drug addict — than he has over the past year in his unexpectedly difficult campaign for the presidency.
“What I learned was that the pain that you feel when you have a loved one who has addiction challenges and kind of spirals out of control is something that is shared with a whole lot of people,” Bush told about 300 addiction recovery advocates this week at a conference near Manchester. New Hampshire has become a center of the nation’s renewed battle with heroin.
READ: Bush has a moment of ‘self-therapy,’ calls Trump ‘a jerk’
Bush’s elaboration about the ordeal that he says put his family “through hell” came as the one-time front-runner showed renewed confidence campaigning in New Hampshire.
He was talking about his daughter, Noelle, who was arrested in 2002, accused of trying to fill a fraudulent prescription for Xanax, a powerful anti-anxiety medication. The arrest was a public spectacle for Bush, then a first-term governor of Florida planning to seek re-election.
He has mentioned the episode briefly during the current campaign, among the precious few personal struggles he divulges about his very public family. In May, he mentioned the difficulty of having a loved one suffering dementia, a reference to his wife’s elderly mother.
With his daughter’s ordeal long past, Bush said he called Noelle this week to seek her permission to discuss its impact on him. Though the wonkish Bush made certain to point out the drug treatment policy enacted during his tenure as governor, he also said the public exposure enlightened him about the plight of others.
Bush said often last year that people knew him as the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former President George W. Bush, “but I’m going to have to show who I am, show my heart.”
Yet he seldom went further than offering the story of meeting his wife-to-be while traveling in her native Mexico as an exchange student in high school.
Other candidates have compelling personal stories they tell with passion. Former tech company CEO Carly Fiorina, who also attended the addiction forum, has talked about losing her stepdaughter Lori to a drug overdose in 2009. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio talks with pride of his upbringing by Cuban-born parents.
While Bush shares little about his life in a dynastic Republican family, he has become more passionate with the anecdotes he shares about his time as governor.
READ: Jeb Bush races to salvage presidential campaign
Bush’s contempt for Trump bubbled over Wednesday when he was asked by New Hampshire voter Tom Emanuel to explain why he called his Republican rival “a jerk” last month.
Bush, who often discusses action he took improving care for Florida’s disabled, lashed out at Trump for mocking a New York Times reporter who is disabled during a campaign event last year.
“When anybody — anybody — disparages people with disabilities, it sets me off,” Bush said.