But in a race that promises to be unpredictable and fluid, Rubio has an chance to break through.
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PHOTO:Republican presidential candidate Sen. Anderson was at a Marco Rubio town hall in Marshalltown yesterday. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the Ted Cruz camp from using them to smear Rubio.
(AP Photo/LM Otero, File). “This is an incredibly important election, and that’s why I’m running for President and why I hope I an earn your support”, Sen.
After the discussion turned to ads about Christie that a pro-Rubio group put out, Rubio stated that while he didn’t put the ads out, “they’re 100% accurate”.
SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE: Two sharp-elbowed candidates are trying to knock each other out of contention, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
By then however, other candidates had joined.
DAVIS: Ann Selzer is the most respected pollster in Iowa.
But with no ties to Texas, Rubio trails far behind Cruz and billionaire Donald Trump in the Lone Star State, which has 155 delegates up for grabs during the March 1st Super Tuesday primary.
So why are two Republicans, who are almost certain to lose Iowa, battling it out here?
In the latest Quinnipiac University Iowa poll released December 14, Cruz leads the Hawkeye State with the evangelical vote at 34%. “This is craziness. Have people lost their minds?”
While Bush has struggled to connect in Iowa, as well as nationally, his campaign is banking on organizational prowess and frequent voter contacts to pull out a top five finish. He was in the state campaigning, but Twitter paid more attention to his shoe selection.
High-minded commentators like to denounce negative campaigning, apparently on the theory that they don’t provide civic uplift. Thus, he can run for the US presidential elections.
Rubio attacked President Obama with equal vigor, and vowed that on day one he’d roll back every executive action Obama’s taken, from recent gun control to environmental protections and the nuclear deal with Iran.
He’s a small-business owner who describes himself as a moderate.
“The people of New Hampshire have been doing this for a long time”, he added.
While campaigning in New Hampshire on Monday, Rubio bristled at the notion that he had a soft record on immigration. After months without a state director, he settled for an operative from Arkansas, and also has a state senator working in a volunteer capacity. A campaign spokesman said Rubio received more high-level information at that meeting than he would have received at the meeting he missed. It makes sense to him why Bush and Rubio are going at it even though they’re both running way behind. “By attrition, they’re now looking at Christie”. As is custom, Rubio opens his events for questions and comments from all comers. One attacks him for supporting Common Core and expanding Medicaid in New Jersey.
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“I learned the difference, and I learned what the limitations are of these laws that people are talking about and how they much, much more greatly infringe on law-abiding citizens than they do anything to prevent crime”, Christie said.
