He’s positioning himself for the few-state electoral swing win. He and his team knows conservatives are out to get him and Iowa and likely NH is where they could lay some serious cuts to him.
He plans to stay out and say his loss was planned, looking at the larger picture. It will divert talk of distaste for him. Money, money and more money he will throw at those few large electoral vote states he can bludgeon with ads on all those hapless Republicans who keep on voting for GOPe no matter what. It may work again - for the third time.
Iowa and New Hampshire are both swing states in the general election and could be crucial, especially to a Republican who has to carve out a tighter electoral vote strategy generally more than a Democrat. If Jebbie can’t win these two states in a Republican caucus and primary how much more does he think he can win them in the general election? His campaign is already in deep trouble, and he knows it. He’ll go into Nevada 0 for 3 because he has no shot in South Carolina either and the smart money, i.e. the establishment, will begin to look for another candidate. Keep your eye on Rubio. That’s the GOPe’s new boy when Jeb falters.
If he follows the heretofore successful template he will not run seriously in any of the early primaries but his money will be used generously to fund smear campaigns against whatever conservative is leading in each of the earlies. Then when he has has done his worst against them and most of them have trashed each other he will be the last man standing for the later primaries and will win the nomination. The only chance that conservative candidates actually have against the tactic is to abjure attacking the other candidates, maintain sense of humor, stay on point, and do not apologize for or explain anything at all, even legitimate flubs. In other words, use the Reagan template to combat the gope template. Walker and Cruz appear to be the only ones who could do this. I hope they can keep it up.