Bush Suspends Campaign After 4th Place Finish
JEB BUSH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But the people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken and I really respect their decision. So, tonight, I am suspending my campaign.</s>CROWD MEMBER: No.</s>BUSH: Yes, yes. Thank you.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Cheers there for Jeb Bush who's choking back tears last night after a disappointing fourth place finish in South Carolina. Once considered the front runner for the GOP nomination, it's now over. He's now stepped off the stage. CNN's Athena Jones joins us with more from Columbia, South Carolina.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. It was an emotional moment. You could hear -- I don't know if you could hear the gasps in the crowd. People were very surprised to hear Governor Bush make that announcement. But his campaign wanted him to do much better. In fact, they were hoping that he could beat his former protege, Marco Rubio. In the end, Rubio bested him by more than a dozen points. Take a listen to what else he told that crowd gathered in a hotel bar room last night.</s>BUSH: In this campaign, I have stood my ground, refusing to bend to the political winds. We put forward detailed, innovative conservative plans to address the mounting challenges that we face, because despite what you might have heard, ideas matter, policy matters. I firmly believe the American must entrust this office to someone who understands that whoever holds is the servant, not the master, someone who will commit to that service with honor and decency.</s>JONES: Now, both of those comments were not so veiled references to Donald Trump. We've heard Governor Bush say over and over on the campaign trail that Donald Trump does not see himself as the man of service. He's not thinking of this as the career of service. In the end as you mentioned, Governor Bush about this time last year was the presumptive front runner but no one predicted the entry in the race and the impact on the race that Donald Trump would have. And so he is bowing out heading home after having fought a tough campaign -- Victor.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. Athena Jones for us in Columbia this morning -- thank you so much. Let's turn now to Senator Cruz, who was once boasted he was the ultraconservative, ultrareligious southern states that vote on March 1st were his firewall. But the question now, what's next for the Texas senator after his loss to Donald Trump in South Carolina, a state that seemed to have been tailor-made for the Cruz campaign? Could this be a signal that more defeats are down the road for the senator on Super Tuesday? Joining me now to discuss, Rick Tyler, the national spokesperson for the Cruz campaign. Rick, good to have you back on</s>NEW DAY. RICK TYLER, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON FOR THE CRUZ CAMPAIGN: Good morning.</s>BLACKWELL: So, I want to start by going inside the numbers here. Ted Cruz says he's the Christian conservative in the race who wants to break up the Washington cartel. But when we look at the numbers -- and let's put these numbers up on the screen for our viewers -- 72 percent of those who responded to our exit polls describe themselves as evangelical or born again Christians. Trump won them over Cruz, 33-27; 76 percent said it mattered the candidate that the candidates shared their religious belief, Trump won with them as well, 31-37. He lost with those who believe -- who angry the federal government. Those are dissatisfied with the federal government. I mean, this is not just a defeat. But is this not a defeat that jeopardizes Cruz's strongest rationale for being in the race?</s>TYLER: Not at all. We're very comfortable where we are. We won Iowa decisively despite everything coming after us, including the establishment, including ethanol, including the sitting governor. In South Carolina, again we had the sitting governor against us, the sitting senator against us and a very popular congressman. So, the establishment rallied and they got behind Marco Rubio and we virtually tied him. Now the question is going to be who can actually defeat Donald Trump. And the only candidate who's beaten Donald Trump is Ted Cruz. So as we go forward, the dynamic will be changing. And March 1 states that especially the southern states are a little different than South Carolina. South Carolina has a liberal coast, that's where Marco Rubio did very well. They have a very liberal capital city, that's where Marco Rubio did very well. But as we go forward, a lot of the states, including Texas, the senator's home state, and Oklahoma and Arkansas, they are different from South Carolina. We have spent a lot of time in those states. We have the resources and we have the organization. We've got a candidate and we've got a message. So, we've left with a deal maker. That's Donald Trump. He wants to be the deal maker and then we have someone who already makes deals. And that's what people are tired of in Washington. Ted Cruz is not a deal maker.</s>BLACKWELL: Rick, let me ask about your characterization that Marco Rubio -- it's correct. He had Nikki Haley. He had Tim Scott. He had Trey Gowdy. But that is how to Cruz campaign is structured is it not that he is going in to break up the establishment. So, if he is the outsider, you'd expect that in every state. Isn't that supposed to be baked into the bread here of your campaign? Shouldn't you have expected other candidates would get that endorsement and Ted Cruz would not?</s>TYLER: He is the proven outside and Marco Rubio is the proven insider. The question mark is Donald Trump. He's neither proven to be an insider or outsider in Washington. What we do know is he's been the pay master for the establishment and not even the Republicans establishment. He's been the paymaster for the Democratic establishment. So, look, we're going to carry our message forward. We're well- positioned. We feel good about the March 1 states, because March 1 states are a lot of states, I think eleven going at the same time. And we're prepared to compete on all those states because we've got the resources, the money and the message to do it. And we believe that Marco Rubio does not have the money or the message. His candidacy -- remember what he's talking about in South Carolina. You know, he didn't really have a message. All he could do was whine about other campaigns. So, we believe we're well positioned to do that, do well on March 1.</s>BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about Dr. Ben Carson who said last night he's not going anywhere, coming in last place here. The expectation would be some of those votes would go to Ted Cruz. At least that was your pitch in Iowa. How does that complicate things moving forward for you if Dr. Carson continues to take 6, 7, 8 percent moving through the next few states?</s>TYLER: Well, he did take 7 percent and despite that, we still virtually tied for second. So, Dr. Carson will have to make up his mind about his own campaign, whether he wants to be -- to go on and take votes from the conservatives, or whether he would like to get out of race. But that is up to him. I do -- we'll work very hard to win over not only his supporters but the supporter of other campaigns. That is what this is all about. The dynamic is the going to change. And again, we've got the resources and the money, and we're prepared to compete and we'll compete hard.</s>BLACKWELL: You know, something stood out to me last night from Senator Cruz's speech. He gave this lofty victorious speech after coming in third place and I thought back to Marco Rubio's speech after coming in third place in Iowa. And I want you to listen to what Senator Cruz said after Rubio's speech in Iowa.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean, I was laughing watching some of the media coverage, some of the interviews afterwards where everyone was saying, what do you think about the amazing third place finish of Marco? And I just kind of laughed and said, gosh, is the media giving the tell there when the first thing you want to talk about is the amazing third place finish. You know, we've been joking that in media world, bronze is the new gold.</s>BLACKWELL: There seems to be a goose and gander cliche here. Did Ted Cruz not give last night the best third place speech since Marco Rubio? It seems to be a similarity there.</s>TYLER: I think he did a very good speech. He was rallying and thankful for his supporters, in South Carolina. But remember, Marco Rubio does not -- he has not won a state. We won Iowa. We came in third in a blue state, where Marco should have done well. He came in fifth, and we're virtually tied in South Carolina, where you do have a liberal contingent that helped, and we had other people in the race. So, we're in good shape. No one would have predicted we'd be in this position, even months and weeks ago, that we would have won Iowa. We would have cone done so well in a blue state. That we would come in the top three and almost virtually tied for the first three states. So, look, we're excited and we're ready to go forward.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. Rick Tyler, I know you had a long a night. We appreciate you waking up early to be with us on</s>NEW DAY. TYLER: You, too. All right. Good. Thank you.</s>BLACKWELL: Thank you, Rick. Now, this Thursday, it's the last debate before Super Tuesday. The narrowed field will be on stage together with Wolf Blitzer live from Texas for the CNN Republican presidential debate./ That's Thursday at 8:30 p.m. right here on</s>CNN. AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. When we come back to NEW DAY, Trump and Hillary are the big winners this weekend. So, where does that leave their rivals? Rubio and Cruz in a virtual tie, and Sanders putting all of his focus on Super Tuesday. We'll discuss the takeaways when we return. Also, a gunman going on a shooting spree in Kalamazoo, killing at least six people including children. We're getting new details on who the suspect is. We will have a live report when we come back.