Marco Rubio’s highly-touted debate performance on Wednesday has already yielded a tangible benefit: The Republican presidential candidate has snagged the support of mega-donor Paul Singer, in a move that could prove a significant blow to rival Jeb Bush. It’s a very grinding experience, it’s a very tough one so I can’t criticize Jeb Bush, I like him very much. The editorial board slammed Rubio for a poor voting record at Capitol Hill, which is among the lowest this year. “I wish I could talk as well as a few of the people on the stage, the big personalities on the stage, but I’m a doer”.
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“Going after Rubio that way was just a mistake”, another Bush donor told Politico.
Rubio – both during the debate and his media tour on Thursday morning – choose not to go on the attack against Bush.
Although aides to Rubio have said they don’t expect defections to happen overnight, the debate provided a prime opportunity to court increasingly wary backers of Bush who are looking to bet on a winning horse.
He started the event with a joke about the CNBC debate, asking: “Is this microphone on?”
In an early-Sunday morning tweet-storm, a tactic that’s become a hallmark of his campaign for president, Trump weighed in Rubio and Bush’s relationship. Marco Rubio the “GOP Obama” until after it was leaked.
Listen to the full Florida Roundup show here.
No candidate’s net favorability – the share of Republicans who view a candidate favorably minus the share who view him or her negatively – has fallen more than Bush’s since mid-June, when Bush and Donald Trump entered the race. “When I see I’m not doing something well then I reset and get better”, he added.
The Republican presidential candidate recently had 10 campaign staffers make 70,000 phone calls to Iowa Republicans, but only received four volunteers.
BUSH: I’m going to work hard to be able to earn people’s support. I don’t agree with that strategy but he obviously has a right to run his own campaign. “And I think that’s the wrong thing to do”.
Following a heated opinion piece in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper calling on Rubio to resign from his Senate seat for missing so many votes – and the attack on the same issue by Bush during the most recent debate – Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, also said Rubio should step away from the Senate.
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He was also a major bundler to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and backed Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 White House bid. We know what outcome’s going to be. I just saw it on him in the debate two days ago, and I also saw him in person, I met with him about a month ago, and he wears that every day. But even Bush supporters acknowledge that he needs to improve his game. “Someone convinced you attacking me is going to help you”.
