Jeb Bush Reflects on Debate Performance: 'I Gotta Get Better'

Des Moines, Iowa Oct. 31, 2015— -- With three months until the Iowa Caucus, 10 Republican candidates campaigned in Iowa on Halloween where all the talk was still centered around Wednesday's GOP debate and for Jeb Bush, his lackluster performance.

"I have enough humility to know I gotta get better," Bush told reporters. "I don’t have this gigantic ego that says, well, they’re just stupid. Iowa voters don’t understand me. They’re eating Monsanto-laced agriculture products," Bush joked, then told reporters he's a competitive guy whose record is unmatched and wants to win.

But Bush couldn't hide from his sinking poll numbers in Iowa. An Oct. 23 Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Poll has Bush in fifth place in the state with 5 percent. The former Florida Governor acknowledged the polls in his opening remarks to 2,000 people at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

"Just as an aside, ya know, poll numbers go up and they go down. Iowa proves that in every caucus and when they go down, you don’t insult Iowa voters because they are the same discerning voters whether your polls are going up or going down. You learn from Iowa voters, and so it is a joy to be here," Bush told the crowd.

This is a much different tactic than Bush's competitor Donald Trump, whose recent slip in the Iowa polls had him pleading with voters.

"Until Iowa came along, I said 'every poll' [had me in first place]. And then Iowa came -- What ... are you people doing to me," Trump said Tuesday night in Sioux City. "Will you get these numbers up?" the billionaire asked the crowd. "I promise you I will do such a good job."

The 10 candidates who participated in the GOP's Growth and Opportunity Party included Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and Rick Santorum. Almost all the candidates began their remarks touching on the CNBC debate and its aftermath.

“How about we stop letting left-wing liberals moderate Republican debates," Texas Senator Ted Cruz told the Iowa Republicans. "Let me lay out a radical proposition. How about we say from now on if you have never voted in a Republican primary in your life, you don’t get to moderate a Republican primary debate ... Could you imagine a debate moderated by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin?" said Cruz, drowned out by applause.

Cruz didn't shy away form basking in his performance, which he said raised his campaign $1.1 million in 22 hours and crashed his website, TedCruz.org. For supporters of Cruz, the Iowa GOP's event was all about getting out the vote.

"I want more people to join this movement," said Keith Trullinger of Waukee, Iowa. "I’m trying to lend encouragement and let people know this is a guy worth following."

Christie, New Jersey's Governor, didn't agree with Cruz's ideas for reforming the debates and said "while he’s doing that, I’ll go and get some of the votes that he might have gotten otherwise.” Christie also criticized his other rivals who plan to hold a debate summit Sunday evening led by Ben Carson's campaign.

"I'm not one of these whiners and complainers. Any debate they put on, I'll show up cause I'll do just fine," said Christie.

Surrounding the stage at Saturday's Halloween-themed "Iowa GOP Party" were pumpkins, dried corn husks and campaign booths representing almost all the candidates still in the race, even those who were not in attendance at the event including Carson and Trump. Carson's Iowa staff were wearing doctor's scrubs and passed out candy in honor of the holiday.

One of the most popular candidates was Rubio, the Florida Senator, who was mobbed at his campaign booth following rave reviews of his debate performance. At one point, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst paid a visit to Rubio's booth and welcomed him to the state.

"The nicest thing is that almost all the politicians are very approachable," said Cheryl Graff of Bettendorf, Iowa, who had the chance to meet Rubio. Graff brought her 4-year-old grandchild in his Halloween costume to the Des Moines event.

”You gotta raise him right and when I say right, I mean right," she said.