Jeb Bush’s super PAC has seen the helium behind Marco Rubio, and they want nothing more than to pop his balloon.
In an interview with Bloomberg released Wednesday, Mike Murphy, the head of Bush’s Right To Rise PAC, went right after the Florida senator’s campaign, calling his push “cynical” and an “also-ran” effort thus far.
Murphy warned that voters will have a hard time considering Rubio given his inexperience, especially after the election of President Barack Obama seven years ago.
“The second and third look are going to be very tough on Marco Rubio,” Murphy told Bloomberg’s Sasha Issenberg. “That’s just a prediction.”
“It’s easier post-Obama than before because we’ve had the Less Filling, Tastes Great great experiment,” Murphy said about running against a candidate without an extensive record. “I think we’ve tried to pick “what’s behind pretty curtain number three” and then we found that it was an empty box there. So we’ll see.”
“I think Rubio’s been in this position of promising I’m going to be great eventually and not held to anything,” Murphy continued. “Rubio can be up or down, nothing matters. None of the yardstick being applied to us is being applied to Rubio.”
Throughout the discussion, the Murphy peppered in criticism of a pro-Rubio super-PAC for running ads in the early primary states and nationally pushing him as the “fresh” candidate, saying they are paid for by mystery donors, something he calls “cynical.”
“What’s interesting about Marco’s campaign … is there’s a cynicism to it. It’s cynical to run as the creature of new, fresh, while it’s all secret dark money,” Murphy said pointing to the $6 million the super-PAC has spent on advertising.
Murphy also blasted the media coverage Rubio has been receiving lately, ripping it as “another Obama parallel.”
“He’s getting the Obama 2008 treatment,” Murphy said.
No matter the tough words, Rubio continues to best Bush in the latest polls, with the RealClearPolitics average pitting Rubio third with 8.8 percent support nationally. Meanwhile, Bush sits fifth in the field with seven percent.
