SHERIDAN— Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called for finishing construction on the Veterans Administration’s over-budget hospital in Aurora and defended his earlier references to “anchor babies” at a town-hall appearance on Tuesday at a VFW hall in this Denver suburb.

At his first campaign appearance in Colorado since the Republican officially declared himself a candidate for president, Bush spoke briefly and then took questions for just over an hour from some 150 veterans and others at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9644.

Bush drew applause and cheers when he said the federal government ought to bring the beleaguered VA hospital, which he termed “an unmitigated disaster,” to completion.

“You can’t just waste the hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “I, for one, am pleased the Army Corps (of Engineers) has taken over this project. It’s pretty clear the Veterans Administration doesn’t know how to build complex hospitals.”

Bush also argued that the VA needs to step up the care it provides for veterans, including more focus on treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and better provision of services for women. “There should be the quality of service in the Veterans Administration that you deserve,” Bush told the crowd.

By most accounts, Bush was the front-runner for the GOP nomination until this summer’s emergence of real estate mogul and former reality TV star Donald Trump, who floats above the other 16 declared candidates in the polls and seems immune to the sort of stumbles that have felled other unconventional front-runners.

Polling released on Thursday by Quinnipiac University showed Trump holding his widest lead yet nationally among Republicans, outpacing his closest challenger by more than 2-to-1. Trump had the support of 28 percent of GOP voters, ahead of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who polled at 12 percent. Bush was tied for third place with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 7 percent support each. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.8 percent, Quinnipiac said.

At the Colorado event, Bush took a swing at Trump without mentioning him by name and later attacked the blustery billionaire’s policies on immigration.

“I’m not a talker, I’m a doer,” Bush said at the VFW hall. “There are some candidates who are great talkers.” As the crowd guffawed, Bush continued: “I’m thinking of one in particular.”

Later, responding to a question about immigration reform, Bush blasted Trump’s proposals, calling it impractical to build a wall along the Mexican border.

“Mr. Trump believes you can just round people up. He thinks, ‘I’m a successful guy, I can just do it,’” Bush said, shaking his head.

He also reiterated his support for a path to legal residency for some immigrants, saying, “We ought to make sure that coming here legally is easier than coming here illegally,” drawing applause from the crowd.

Bush also attempted to clarify a controversy that had erupted earlier in the week when he used the term “anchor baby” — considered a derogatory term by many in the immigrant community — after eliciting even more criticism from opponents when he said his comments were “frankly more related to Asian people.” On Monday, Bush said he had been referring to the “birth tourism” industry exposed in recent news reports, and on Tuesday he went further.

Responding to a question about his use of the term, Bush said, “I was talking about a very narrow-casted system of fraud where people are bringing pregnant women in to have babies to get birthright citizenship. I support birthright citizenship, by the way. I support it,” he said, as some in the crowd applauded. “I think that is a noble thing we should do. But we’ve got to control the immigration system in this country.”

Referring to his Mexican-born wife, Bush added, “I am 62 years old. When I was 17 years old, I fell in love with Columba Garnica Gallo Bush. It’s going to be really hard for me to get lectured by anyone about the politics of immigration.”

But it was the politics of women’s health care that drew the sharpest attacks on Bush after the VFW event.

Asked about the VA’s care for women veterans, Bush said, “We need to redirect resources toward women’s health issues.

“As it relates to women’s health issues in general, when I was governor, we expanded those programs through community-based organizations, and that’s something I think the federal government needs to continue to do,” Bush said. “I, for one, don’t think that Planned Parenthood ought to get a penny. That’s the difference. Because they’re not actually doing women’s health issues. They’re involved in something way different than that.”

Nearly as soon as reporters at the town hall had tweeted Bush’s remarks, the attacks from Democrats and Planned Parenthood supporters started rolling in.

“Cancer screenings, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, pap smears, breast exams, HIV tests, family planning services: all things that Jeb Bush doesn’t consider ‘women’s health issues.’ Well, women certainly have some ‘issues’ with Jeb Bush’s policies,” said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Christina Freundlich in an emailed statement.

Cathy Alderman, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, said in another statement, “Jeb Bush clearly does not understand Colorado women and their health. In our state Planned Parenthood serves more than 80,000 Coloradans, the majority of which are women. Colorado women trust Planned Parenthood, and depend on them to get the health care they need.”

The night before the town hall, Bush appeared at a high-dollar campaign fundraiser at the East Denver home of Maria Garcia and Chuck Berry. Campaign sources said about 75 attended. The candidate traveled to Utah for more campaign events after the Colorado event.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com