Jeb Bush touts Iowa support

Jeb Bush rolled out endorsements from 20 business leaders, politicians and Republican activists in Iowa on Tuesday as he seeks to gain traction in a state that will be a major early hurdle for his presidential campaign.

The Bush campaign announced that the former Florida governor will have the backing of former Rep. Greg Ganske (R-Iowa), Mark Jacobs, the retired president and CEO of Reliant Energy, Joni Scotter, a so-called Iowa “super volunteer” who has been courted by many of the candidates, and Brian Kennedy, the former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party.

{mosads}The list of endorsements is filled out by more than a dozen other current and former state senators, city councilmen, businessmen, and party activists.

Bush is seeking to make a statement of strength in the first-in-the-nation caucus state ahead of his first visit there as an official candidate on Tuesday.

Bush’s moderate positions on issues like immigration reform and Common Core could make it difficult for him to make inroads with the conservative caucus-going electorate in Iowa.

The Iowa caucuses have not historically been kind to establishment candidates. In 2008, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) surged to victory over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), and in 2012, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) did the same.

According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Bush is currently a distant fifth place in the Hawkeye State, trailing the leader, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, by nearly 10 percentage points.