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Congressional Republicans Concerned Over Rubio
Thursday, February 11, 2016 01:56 PM
By: Sandy Fitzgerald
Establishment Republicans say they're starting to worry if Marco Rubio is ready to stand up against the eventual Democratic presidential nominee after his poor finish in New Hampshire's primary election and his repetitive performance on the debate stage.
"People who have already endorsed [Rubio] are probably concerned to see how he can come out of South Carolina," West Virginia Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who has not yet named her endorsement, told The Hill.
"I think there's a definite level of concern."
Lawmakers rallied around Rubio after his third-place finish in Iowa, but when the Florida senator came in fifth place in New Hampshire and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush placed third, it created more life for Bush's campaign, Capito said.
And after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie followed up a week of attacks on Rubio's readiness for office with a jibe about his repeating "scripted" responses on the debate stage, combined with the low finish in the New Hampshire Primary, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said there are "questions not about his ability but about his lack of experience."
Jones, who had endorsed Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has not picked another candidate after Paul dropped out of the race.
Another powerful conservative, Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, told The Hill that it seems many people are taking a second look at Rubio.
"He had big momentum out of Iowa, and it wasn't maintained," he said. "It's funny how people can peak and never recover."
Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, did agree with Rubio's assessment that he had only himself to blame at his reaction to Christie's attacks.
However, there are critics who are blaming the media for being hostile toward Rubio.
"Democrats can run a younger person like John F. Kennedy because the media is with them," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has endorsed Bush. "Republicans will have a more difficult time because if somebody's young, they're going to get beaten up like never before by this biased media."
And Rubio himself blamed media coverage for part of his woes, saying the media, for the 72 hours between the debate election, was "very negative."
Rubio supporters, though, are predicting that the debate and his fifth-place finish will only affect his race temporarily, and that he'll be able to bounce back.
