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 But as he prepares to do battle once more against his rivals at
the fourth Republican presidential debate on Tuesday in Milwaukee,
Bush faces a challenge: Whether he can talk simply and eloquently
about Americans' problems without lapsing into nerd-speak.
The former Florida governor's tentative performance at the last
encounter two weeks ago in Boulder, Colorado contributed to another
dive in his favorability numbers in the race for the Republican
nomination for the November 2016 election.
Bush has hired an image consultant to try to help him with his
presentation but he has rejected advice from advisers to get rid of
his eyeglasses and to stand up straighter and puff his chest out.
He acknowledges that his debate performances need work.
"I do pretty good when I'm out with real people interacting with
them. Have fun doing it," Bush said last week on his campaign bus in
New Hampshire. "But the debate process is different."
 But even at campaign events, Bush stuffs his speeches with facts and
figures rather than short, sharp, sound bites.
"POSSE COMITATUS LAW"
In Hollis, New Hampshire, last week when a voter asked Bush whether
he would support sending National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican
border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, Bush interjected:
"You'd have to change the Posse Comitatus Law," he said, referring
to an obscure 1878 law that limits the powers of the federal
government in using federal military personnel to enforce U.S.
domestic policies.
While high-flying rivals like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Marco
Rubio gain attention with more emotional pitches, Bush has clung to
his clinical approach of talking policy.
In comparison to Trump who vows to build "the best wall ever" on the
Mexican border, Bush offered what he feels is a more realistic view
when a voter in Raymond, N.H., asked him about a wall. He noted the
rugged terrain along the border.
"There are places where you couldn’t build a fence," he said. "But
where fences are appropriate, do it, fine."
Listening to Bush at the Hollis event was New Hampshire Republican
Lorin Rydstrom, who said he liked what he heard, but harbors doubts.
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"He's got a great pedigree," said Rydstrom. "The question is
passion. Does he have the passion to do it?"
Bush reads obscure policy studies for input on developing his
positions. He eschews fiction in favor of nonfiction.
"There's talkers and there's doers and I'm in the doers' lane," Bush
told Reuters in a recent interview. "And I want people to know that.
So we're really focused on policy."
But experts, supporters and, significantly, some of his financial
donors have noticed that Bush has not been able to boil his message
down into several digestible points that describe why he is running
for president and what he would do if elected.
Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican
Party and who has not endorsed a candidate this year, attended
Bush's recent rollout of his healthcare plan. He noticed that Bush
had plenty of details but did not cite examples of how his policy
would help the average American.
"A huge part of being a presidential candidate and a president is
your communications skills and your ability to explain complicated
things that regular people can understand. Some candidates are
better than that than others," Cullen said.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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