Boulder, Colo. — Jeb Bush entered the 2016 sweepstakes last December full of bravado and subtle suggestions that his candidacy left no room for fellow Floridian Marco Rubio.
Nearly a year later, the former two-term governor and political giant in his state found himself chasing after the first-term U.S. senator, his one time protege, in a crucial presidential debate in a somewhat desperate bid to resuscitate his flagging campaign. Bush, 62, trails Rubio in most state and national polls, and his attack was the clearest signal yet that he now views the 44 year-old, not front-runner Donald Trump, as his chief rival.
“Everybody here understands the Marco Rubio’s an outstanding performer. But we’re running for the highest office in the land,” Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz told reporters following the debate, broadcast Wednesday by financial news network CNBC. “The difference-maker is whether you have the record of accomplishment, the leadership skills, demonstrated for the biggest job in the country. I think there’s a real question whether Sen. Rubio does.”
It was a stark shift of strategy for Bush, who in the last televised debate focused his ire on Trump, the billionaire businessman and reality television star that continues to pace the field in most public opinion surveys. The move comes on the heels of the Bush campaign slashing campaign staff and expenses and reorienting itself away from hoped-for national dominance in favor of focusing on winning New Hampshire.
The payoff for targeting Trump was debatable. But it could be argued that viewing the front-runner as your competition, and seeking to take him out, was a power move by Bush. Going after Rubio, possibly a preemptive move to protect himself as the nominal favorite of the Republican Party’s governing wing, looks weak. The senator is currently running in third among GOP voters nationally, is beating him in Iowa and running just behind him in New Hampshire.
Worse for Bush, his attacks on Rubio failed to hit the mark.
Picking up on a Sun Sentinel newspaper of Orlando, Fla., staff editorial calling on Rubio to resign his Senate seat in the wake of missing so many floor votes to run for president, Bush struck. He accused Rubio for ignoring his day job and suggested that missing votes to campaign proved that Rubio lacked the character and qualities of responsible leadership necessary for the presidency.
“I’m a constituent of the senator, and I helped him, and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun Sentinel, because he was the most talented guy in the field. He’s a gifted politician,” Bush said. “But, Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally the Senate, what is it, like a French work week? You get like three days where you have to show up?
“You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job,” Bush added.
Rubio neatly swatted the critique aside. He mocked Bush’s new strategy to stage a comeback in New Hampshire, while flatly dismissing the governor he worked with when he was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives as someone he wasn’t in competition with.
“Over the last few weeks, I have listened to Jeb as he’s walked around the country and said that you’re modeling your campaign after John McCain [R-Ariz.]; that you’re going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport,” Rubio said. “Do you know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you’re now modeling after?”
“I don’t remember you ever complaining about John McCain’s vote record. The only reason why you’re doing it now is because we’re running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you,” Rubio added. “Here’s the bottom line. I’m not — my campaign is going to be about the future of America. It’s not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I’m not running against Governor Bush.”
Post debate, the Rubio campaign declined to pile on Bush’s woes. Similarly, Rubio officials declined to respond to the Bush campaign continuing to push to the media the line of attack against their candidate that the governor tried to prosecute during the debate. Senior Rubio adviser Todd Harris said that the senator is used to be underestimated, but generously offered that it was “absurd” to suggest that Bush’s presidential bid was on its last legs.
“If the last couple of months have been any indication, we don’t expect a massive shakeup in the race, or in the polls, based on this debate,” Harris said.
