Marco Rubio gathered up hugs at this ^^ Florida rally ahead of the big Super Tuesday showdown, and the guy must be exhausted this morning. During a recent post-debate interview (after frustrating Ted Cruz and delivering the best moment of the evening), Rubio already looked in need of a nap, which is to be expected. Rubio — and no one for that matter — has the energy of Donald Trump in this presidential race. Per his own admission, Trump sleeps only three hours per night, which could make him more of a robot than Rubio. This sleep claim has been the subject of much discussion because, seriously, maybe this explains all the whack things that come out of Trump’s mouth. We’ve truly never seen a candidate like him.
Despite obvious exhaustion, Rubio pressed against the odds. I attended his final appearance (in Jenks, America) before Super Tuesday. This was his fifth rally of the day, and he barely had a voice. Still, he forged forward with his goal to stop Donald Trump. Yes, Rubio has played Trump’s game by resorting to mockery, and the first moment of silence at the Rubio rally was punctuated by an attendee shouting, “Donald Trump has small hands!” Rubio has largely encouraged these shenanigans, but he simultaneously chastises the press for only picking up on these moments. This whole approach may have helped him, for CNN’s live broadcast pointed towards the majority of late-deciding GOP voters choosing Rubio. He made progress on Super Tuesday, although he only won one state (Minnesota) and came in second in the battleground state of Virginia.
Rubio’s ultimate goal isn’t really to stop Trump. He’s in it to win, but there are too many candidates for that to happen. Should John Kasich drop out, we’d get a better indication of whether Rubio or Ted Cruz could take out Trump. Kasich will go nowhere until after March 15, when the Governor of Ohio waits to win his home state (which is a winner-takes-all delegate pot). The same day, Rubio will hope to win his own Florida (and every one of those delegates), too. Once these larger states start rolling, we’ll see if Rubio has mettle, and the pressure is on. Rubio’s campaign reaped substantial infusions from two billionaires, Paul Singer and Ken Griffin (among other high-dollar backers), and if Rubio fails to take Florida, they’ll surely pull their financial support. If he takes the state, Rubio has a fighting chance.
Rubio remains optimistic after Super Tuesday and sees Florida’s vote as the truly pivotal moment in the race. Late on Monday night (before he captured Minnesota), Rubio vowed to save “the heart and soul of the Republican party” from Trump. He told CNN hosts they were “mis-analyzing the night” because the larger, take-all states were yet to come. On Wednesday, Rubio spoke with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum to denounce Florida polling data that showed him losing ground:
“Florida is a unique place to poll for a bunch of different reasons, including a significant number of Republican voters in South Florida who get the majority of their information in Spanish. Cuban-American Republicans are over 10% of the whole electorate. Look, Florida, those are not accurate numbers you have seen. We have our own numbers, I think we will see other numbers that will show the same. It’s going to be close, but we know how to win in Florida and we will.”
Rubio also spoke with Megyn Kelly after Super Tuesday to downplay his third-place showing. Rubio said that this “proportional state of the campaign” didn’t matter as much as people believe. He’s convinced that he can own a number of ginormous, take-all states and keep Trump from winning. The fatal flaw with this approach is that folks (including Rubio) are discounting the inexplicable lure of Zodiac Killer and Bad Lip Reading star Ted Cruz, who performed beyond expectations on Tuesday. Never, ever look away when Cruz is still in the room.
(Via New York Times & Fox News)