that this election is going to be decided based on whether george bush understood jeb bush understood whether the question was being asked based on what he knew then or what he knew now. i think we nitpick these candids to death. i think we play games of gotcha. we should spend more time thinking about finding out what they think on important issues. do you think he ll be able to move past this and move forward and actually sell his platform and ideas of what he has planned for america she had he become the president? a well, now there is a different question. i mean, i think he gets to move past it. i don t think there is anybody that s going to base their decision on this. i don t even think rusty is the word. i much prefer candidate he said whether i make mistake, i make a doozy.
we look voters in the sky tell them what we ll do and should i across to be a candidate wail continue to do that. it s won three times in four years in a state that hadn t gone republican since 1984. i think into only here in iowa, but across the america people are looking for people to win. reporter: the stakes here are huge tonight for these republican hopefuls. bottom line, with 11 on stage it will be very difficult to stand out. but connecting with these activists will be critical because these presidential hopefuls are hoping that these activists will be the ones who will stand up for them on caucus night. eric? thanks so much. enjoy the dinner. we ll be hearing from some other reports later on tonight s. thank you. eric former florida governor jeb bush is work hard to explain his clements this week about the iraq war. brand-new reaction from the governor to his interview with megyn kelly. that s coming up next.
moines as are many activists on the republican side. it promises to be a huge dinner tonight. earlier we saw jeb bush making the rounds, making several stops across iowa in dubuque and iowa city. yet bush has taken some heat for saying he does not plan to compete in the iowa straw poll in august. he says he s not into straw poll attention, but plans to compete aggressively here and says did does not mean he s giving up here in iowa. 11 possible republican presidential candidates will speak to a room full of party activists at the dinner tonight s. they ll get ten minutes each to make their case. a lot of important work will be done at receptions where they can interact with potential supporters. er early iowa fronts runner, governor scott walk prosecutor wisconsin has done several stops as well today. i asked walker how he s been able to connect with voters in iowa so far. ai think people just want some of that midwestern honesty.
a former fellow there governor jeb bush working hard to recover from what is likely the roughest week so far of his 2016 campaign and waiting. it all started with this response to a question from our megyn kelly in her interview about his position on the iraq war. you you don t think it was a mistake? in retrospect, the intelligence that everybody saw that the world saw not just the united states, asphalty. by the way, guess who thinks that those mistakes took police as well? george w. bush. and today governor bush was asked about it following an iowa fund-raiser. listen. megyn kelly interview and should supporters be worried? no. don t think so. i think i can handle it. i was asked a question. i answered the question wrong. i answered a different question. and look, we re all going to make mistakes. if you re look for a perfect candidate, he probably existed
it s always better to admit i made a mistake. he s got to move on to put forward a platform and that part i haven t heard yet. you know, today also governor bush is saying that, listen, i m not going to participate in this iowa straw poll. i don t believe in those things they re a little antiquated possibly. however, i do plan to campaign in iowa. is there a god move? well, it s good move if he was going do lose the iowa straw poll, which is my guess. these straw polls are really stupid okay? when i say they re stupid, i mean they re not a measure of how much popular support you necessarily have in a state much less the country. they re a measure of how many people you could drag to a certain place at a certain time to check your name. they may not even be voters. so i don t blame jeb bush for being a little skeptical of them. and usual low whether people say they re going to skip a have you poll, it means i m not going to lose the straw poll or when i do