"Marco Rubio is the betting markets' top-pick to win the Republican presidential nomination, and
he's polling the best among the candidates most closely aligned with the party's establishment. But with the first votes less than a month away in the primary contest, his campaign is in search of an early victory with which to stake his claim to that front-runner status.
"Rubio's biggest concern is: Where do I get an early win?" says GOP strategist Ford O'Connell. "That is what is keeping them up at night."
Rubio was always unlikely to win in Iowa, where the Republican caucus-goers prefer outspoken social conservatives like Mike Huckabee (the 2008 winner) and Rick Santorum (the 2012 winner). Instead, his launching pad was generally considered to be New Hampshire, where establishment candidates like John McCain (2008) and Mitt Romney (2012) have cemented their front-runner status. But this year, despite Rubio's strong standing among the party establishment, a New Hampshire win seems unlikely, thanks largely to the Donald Trump phenomenon.
Next comes South Carolina, where the latest poll has Rubio behind Ted Cruz and Trump. That leaves the February 23 caucuses in Nevada, the final state where Rubio can lay claim to an early victory and position himself as a top contender going into Super Tuesday on March 1.
Nevada is an attractive state for Rubio for many reasons. He lived there for several years as a child, at a time when he practiced Mormonism, giving him a connection to the state's large Mormon population as well as its sizable number of Hispanic voters. And unlike New Hampshire and South Carolina, Nevada is a caucus state—where conventional wisdom says a robust ground game can put the hardest-working candidate over the top. Rubio has built up a serious campaign operation in the Silver State, led by Mike Slanker, who ran Republican Brian Sandoval's two winning gubernatorial campaigns and Dean Heller's US Senate victory in 2012." MotherJones
"Rubio's biggest concern is: Where do I get an early win?" says GOP strategist Ford O'Connell. "That is what is keeping them up at night."
Rubio was always unlikely to win in Iowa, where the Republican caucus-goers prefer outspoken social conservatives like Mike Huckabee (the 2008 winner) and Rick Santorum (the 2012 winner). Instead, his launching pad was generally considered to be New Hampshire, where establishment candidates like John McCain (2008) and Mitt Romney (2012) have cemented their front-runner status. But this year, despite Rubio's strong standing among the party establishment, a New Hampshire win seems unlikely, thanks largely to the Donald Trump phenomenon.
Next comes South Carolina, where the latest poll has Rubio behind Ted Cruz and Trump. That leaves the February 23 caucuses in Nevada, the final state where Rubio can lay claim to an early victory and position himself as a top contender going into Super Tuesday on March 1.
Nevada is an attractive state for Rubio for many reasons. He lived there for several years as a child, at a time when he practiced Mormonism, giving him a connection to the state's large Mormon population as well as its sizable number of Hispanic voters. And unlike New Hampshire and South Carolina, Nevada is a caucus state—where conventional wisdom says a robust ground game can put the hardest-working candidate over the top. Rubio has built up a serious campaign operation in the Silver State, led by Mike Slanker, who ran Republican Brian Sandoval's two winning gubernatorial campaigns and Dean Heller's US Senate victory in 2012." MotherJones
No comments:
Post a Comment