MUSCATINE, Iowa — Marco Rubio went after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as a front-runner but flip-flopper on the campaign trail as he tries to build momentum before the Iowa caucuses.
The Florida senator, who was making his second stop of the day, told reporters that the list of flip-flops by Cruz is “endless,” adding that the GOP will not retake the White House with a candidate “who will say or do anything” to win support. The continued attacks came after news that Cruz is redirecting his ads to attack Rubio instead of Donald Trump in the final days before voting starts.
“When a candidate’s being attacked, obviously someone’s worried about you. Obviously Sen. Cruz is worried about my candidacy, and he has a lot to answer for,” Rubio said of Cruz’s new ad strategy. “I think people are starting to learn the truth about Ted on immigration and a bunch of other issues shows a history of calculation, and I think it’s starting to hurt him a little bit.”
“Obviously, Ted is the front-runner here,” Rubio said. “He’s spent a lot of time and money and has 10,000 volunteers working on his behalf on the ground. I saw his campaign a month ago was talking about winning comfortably… We’re not going to make those kind of predictions.”
The comments come a day after the final GOP debate before the caucuses, during which Rubio and Cruz sparred heatedly over immigration.
“The list is endless,” Rubio said about Cruz’s numerous alleged shifts in position, including national security and ethanol.
“I know we’re not going to beat Hillary Clinton with a candidate who will say or do anything to gain a vote or raise money,” Rubio said.
Rubio will hold four more events Sunday in Iowa ahead of caucus day. However, he continues to trail in the Hawkeye State, behind both Donald Trump’s 31 percent and Cruz’s 25 percent in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Rubio is currently third in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings. Cruz is in second place.
