Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has hired a veteran New Hampshire political strategist and is planning a visit to the state which famously holds the first primary in the presidential nominating contest.
Bush hired Rich Killion, who served as Mitt Romney's strategist in New Hampshire in 2008, New Hampshire’s WMUR reported.
Killion is a “veteran of many Granite State political battles dating back more than a dozen years,” noted the New Hampshire Journal. Before serving as a top strategist to Romney, he served a similar role for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s short-lived campaign.
Bush is planning to visit the state in March. A prominent Republican last month told a New Hampshire newspaper that Bush had said he planned to visit the state soon. Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas told the New Hampshire Journal that he got a phone call from the potential presidential contender and that they spoke for “about 30 minutes about ‘quite a few issues,’ including health care.”
Bush’s New Hampshire swing will come a week after he makes his 2016 debut in Iowa, another of the states that play a key role in picking presidential nominees. Bush, who last month snapped up David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican strategist with presidential campaign experience, is scheduled to attend the Iowa Agriculture Summit on March 7.