This is not the first time that the pundits have declared a Jeb Bush campaign deathwatch, but the vital signs are getting weaker and weaker, and South Carolina may provide the final blow.

The latest bad news came on Wednesday, when popular Governor Nikki Haley endorsed Senator Marco Rubio. Her backing gives Rubio another boost in his quest to consolidate the backing of the Republican establishment against Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, and it makes it even harder for Bush to do that. Bush had been angling for Haley’s endorsement too, and on Tuesday—in a moment of candor he may regret now, told NBC, “She is the probably the most meaningful endorsement if there is, if she is going to give an endorsement it would be the most powerful meaningful one in the state.”

A little bit too much honesty was Bush’s theme on Wednesday. After news of the Haley endorsement leaked, he lashed out during a trail stop. “It’s all decided, apparently. The pundits have already figured it out. We don’t have to go vote. I should stop campaigning maybe, huh? It’s all done,” he sniped, then recovered, adding: “That’s not how democracy works.”