The Republican candidate was not in state when the results of the Iowa Caucus were announced; instead, he was in Manchester, New Hampshire, the site of the first primary battle in the US, which will take place next week.
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Rubio describes caucus victor Ted Cruz as chronically “calculating” and points to the failure of others to pull in higher numbers as testament to their inability to lead.
It’s likely, however, she’s referring to Donald Trump, the No. 2 Iowa finisher who has long mocked her son, Jeb, on the campaign trail.
Instead, Rubio appears to be biding his time, quietly courting his rivals’ potential voters.
CNN is told there is a fresh Rubio effort to win Romney’s endorsement based on his third place showing in Iowa.
Eight former and current Republican House Speakers are urging New Hampshire residents to vote for Jeb Bush on Election Day.
“If Rubio beats him badly in New Hampshire, Jeb is toast”, SC senator Lindsey Graham, who endorsed Bush after folding his own hopeless 2016 bid, told the Times.
Indeed, Rubio’s team isn’t the only campaign to have begun its outreach to Romney.
They said senior aides to Bush held conference calls for donors on Tuesday to reassure them, offering an upbeat message about Bush’s finances and ground game in New Hampshire and a determination to press on.
His mother lambasted Trump for criticizing Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during and after a Republican debate in August.
Barbara only spoke for about a minute and a half, but she lavished praise on a son who seems like he could use it. Bush is lagging in the polls, his one-time mentee Marco Rubio is surging, and Republican voters just don’t seem that interested in government experience this year. “But the World Trade Center came down, so when he said we were safe, that’s not safe”.
Still, Trump differs sharply from Rubio on immigration policy by supporting the deportation of all people in the USA illegally.
On Tuesday, a woman asked Rubio his opinion of Trump’s public mockery of a New York Times reporter who is disabled. I don’t think – if you have a sister or a brother you’re probably not the same. In 2013, as her son mulled a presidential run, Barbara Bush publicly said the country probably wasn’t keen on another Bush in the Oval Office.
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It’s part of a pattern of careful treatment of Trump by Rubio.
