Donald Trump and Jeb Bush lash out at each other before vote

White House hopefuls Donald Trump and Jeb Bush opened political hostilities on Mo-nday as Republican and Democratic candidates sto-rmed across New Hamp-shire in a final flurry of events before the state’s crucial first-in-the-nation primary. The stage was set for the vote on Tuesday, with New York billionaire Mr Trump enjoying a big lead in opinion polls of the state’s Republican voters and a host of rivals jockeying to emerge as his chief challenger for the Republ-ican presidential nomination in the November 8 election.

Mr Trump, still rankled that Mr Bush hit him hard at a candidates’ debate in Manchester on Saturday night, peppered his stump speeches with attacks on the former Florida governor at events in Salem and Londonderry. “This stiff, Jeb Bush,” Mr Trump said. “He’s a total stiff. ... If you had a company, you wouldn’t even hire him. He’s like a child, like a spoiled child.”

Mr Bush fired off a tweet referring to Mr Trump’s comment in 2015 that Sen-ator John McCain, the par-ty’s 2008 presidential nominee who spent 5-1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was not a hero because he got captured. “@realDon-aldTrump, you aren’t just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner.”