A super PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential candidacy released a new attack ad slamming rival Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Bush and Rubio’s longstanding relationship, which dates back to their time holding local office in the Sunshine State, has soured on the presidential campaign trail. Right to Rise USA, the super political action committee behind the new attack ad, has seized the opportunity to slam the first-term senator for his job performance in Washington, D.C.
“Days after the Paris attacks, senators came together for a top-secret briefing on the terrorist threat. Marco Rubio was missing — fundraising in California instead,” a narrator says in the ad. “Two weeks later, terrorists struck again in San Bernardino. And where was Marco? Fundraising again in New Orleans. Over the last three years, Rubio has missed important national security hearings and missed more total votes than any other senator. Politics first, that’s the Rubio way.”
The ad will reportedly begin airing in Iowa, where Rubio is campaigning alongside South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks and Hillary Clinton’s private email arrangement.
The Rubio campaign eagerly swiped back at the Bush team’s attack and said the senator did not return to D.C. for the top-secret briefing because he had already attended a classified intelligence committee hearing after the Paris attacks.
“Bush’s team dishonestly omits that Marco is on the Senate’s Intelligence Committee, where he attended the highest level briefings on the Paris attacks,” said Alex Conant, a Rubio campaign spokesman, in a statement. “No other candidate for president has received more classified intelligence briefings or better understands the threats facing our nation today than Marco. It’s sad to see Jeb’s ‘joyful’ campaign reduced to such intellectual dishonesty.”
Rubio and Bush are jockeying for position as little more than one month remains until the first ballots are cast in Iowa. Rubio, who ranks third in the Washington Examiner‘s newest GOP presidential power rankings, leads Bush by more than seven percentage points in the Hawkeye State, according to RealClearPolitics’ average of Iowan polls.
