CONTOOCOOK, N.H. — Jeb Bush was halfway through an early-morning town-hall-style event here Saturday when he paused, announcing he had something he wanted to get off his chest.
"Donald Trump is a jerk," Bush said, seemingly unprompted, to applause.
"You cannot insult your way to the presidency," he said. "You can't disparage women, Hispanics, disabled people. Who is he kidding? This country is far better than that. The idea that he's actually running for president and insulting people is deeply discouraging, to be honest with you, and I think we should reject that out of hand. I hope you'll reject it by voting for me, but a guy like that should not be the front-running candidate of our great party."
Finally finished, Bush exhaled with a laugh: "I gave myself therapy there," he joked.
Therapy, maybe — but also a deliberate move by Bush, whose strategy to save his faltering campaign now involves attacking Trump, forcefully and frequently. The approach was on display in Tuesday evening's Republican debate in Las Vegas, where Bush repeatedly needled Trump, seeming to irritate the real estate magnate.
Nonetheless, Bush still sits in single digits in the polls, and New Hampshire has become a must-win state for him, a place where he must beat, or at the very least tie, his rivals for the party's more moderate base — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ohio Governor John R. Kasich, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio — if he hopes to reinvigorate his campaign.
On Saturday morning, Bush made an explicit plea to the voters here, asking them for their vote, and for their active involvement in his campaign.
"I'm going to be up here a lot," Bush said. "If I don't get it today, I'm coming back next week. I'll ask for it again. And I'm coming back the week after that and the week after that. I love campaigning here and I'm going to ask for your support until I get it."
Bush added, almost as if trying to convince himself, "I think you're looking at the Republican nominee."
Bush plans to compete seriously in New Hampshire, with a schedule that has him in the north of the state before Christmas, and back again for several days before New Year's. New Hampshire is the second state to vote, on Feb. 9, eight days after the Iowa caucuses.
On Saturday, Bush planned a packed schedule of four town-hall-style meetings, intended to show his stamina and resolve. (He has still been unable to shake the "low-energy" stigma Trump put on him this summer).
Throughout the day, Bush fielded questions ranging from college affordability (he said he planned to outline a plan to fix the problem of student loan debt in roughly three weeks) to how to restore America's position of strength in the world.
But the former Florida governor seemed determined to keep his focus on Trump.
"Donald Trump is a chaos candidate and he would be a chaos president," he said. "Did you hear him talk about foreign policy in the debate?"
"I mean, it's like he has no clue," he added.