South Carolina: One last family run 
 
 JUST WATCHED Jeb Bush supporter: 'South Carolina is Bush country' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Jeb Bush supporter: 'South Carolina is Bush country' 02:45 
 
 In New Hampshire and South Carolina, Bush dramatically shook up his stump speech and directly tried to take on Rubio and Cruz for being first-term senators, comparing them to then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 and calling them a "risky bet."  If there is any justice in the universe (I know, but let’s go with it), Jeb Bush’s announcement Saturday night that he was ending his campaign for the Republican nomination marks the permanent end of the Bush family’s presence in our national politics. JUST WATCHED Jeb Bush: 'People need to show up for work' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Jeb Bush: 'People need to show up for work' 01:35 
 
 In the following months, Bush would lighten his attacks against Rubio, training his fire more on Trump instead. I think people are waiting to see if there's someone they can support and who has a chance to win." "I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support ... because I have decided to run for president of the United States," Kasich told his kickoff rally at the Ohio State University. During the first six months of 2015, Bush raised more than $100 million, most of it stockpiled in Right to Rise, a strategy that seemed right at the time but came at the cost of not dealing with other pressing needs. JUST WATCHED George W. Bush: 9/11 made me a 'wartime' president Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH George W. Bush: 9/11 made me a 'wartime' president 02:12 
 
 The positive coverage quickly dwindled and poll numbers showed no noticeable improvement after George W. Bush's appearance. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: The week in politics A woman wears a campaign sticker for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate, ahead of a campaign rally in Aiken, South Carolina, on Monday, February 15. Chris Christie gestures as he delivers his budget at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey, on Tuesday, February 16. JUST WATCHED Jeb Bush impersonates Donald Trump Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Jeb Bush impersonates Donald Trump 00:41 
 
 Then, a perceived sideshow candidate named Donald Trump -- who labeled undocumented immigrants as "rapists" in his announcement speech -- stole the show. Given how the race has gone, the real mystery of Jeb Bush’s campaign isn’t why he failed — but why anyone ever thought he would succeed. Hide Caption 6 of 6 
 
 Bush was out of practice on the campaign trail, something evidenced by his early stumbles answering questions on his stance on the war in Iraq -- a question that should have been anticipated with an answer ready. The problem, many donors say they believe, is that there wasn’t anyone on the team who both recognized his shortcomings and was willing to point them out to the principal himself. “And they didn’t adjust very nimbly.” 
 
 *** 
 
 By August, just six weeks after officially launching his campaign, the only thing Bush’s staff could agree on was the problem: Donald J. Trump. The state's popular governor, Nikki Haley, who Bush campaigned for in 2010 and helped advise her on policy, announced she was endorsing Rubio.
– The post-mortems on Jeb Bush's failed campaign are rolling in. Some examples: Don't blame Donald Trump. "What killed Jeb Bush’s campaign was first the failure of his brother’s administration, and then the emergence of Marco Rubio to present a more attractive face for its continuation," writes Jonathan Chait at New York. Still, Peter Beinart at the Atlantic explains why Bush was Trump's "perfect foil." The Week sums things up by collecting 19 "devastating quotes" that compare coverage of Bush in early 2015 with more recent stories. One problem: His campaign underestimated "Bush fatigue," observes the Washington Post. Another: He didn't have advisers who could recognize shortcomings and, more importantly, point them out to Bush himself, says this piece in Politico Magazine. How on earth do you spend $130 million and have so little to show for it? The New York Times digs into "one of the least successful campaign spending binges in history." Those early stumbles on Iraq didn't help, notes CNN. Gary Legum at Salon bids "good riddance" to the "Bush Dynasty" with the question, "Can anyone think of another family dynasty that has had such a huge role in a particular stretch of American history, yet has almost zero hold on the country’s imagination?"