http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/marco-rubio-mitt-romney-219495Rubio: Romney 2.0
The Florida senator and 2012 GOP standard-bearer are largely in sync on policy. But Rubio and his backers believe his life story and storytelling talent make all the difference.
By Mike Zapler and Anna Palmer
02/20/16 10:43 PM EST
Updated 02/21/16 10:13 AM EST
GREENVILLE, S.C. — At every campaign stop, Marco Rubio calls it “the biggest lie in American politics” — the notion that Republicans are the party of the super wealthy, and hopelessly out of touch with the working class and minorities.
The party, in other words, that Democrats eviscerated with Mitt Romney at the helm in 2012.
But strip away Rubio’s rags-to-presidential contender biography, and his candidacy has more than a little in common with Romney’s — from policy platforms that are largely in sync to a brain trust that boasts a number of the same key figures. When it comes to the substance of what he’d try to do in the job, at least, Rubio is not promising a sharp break from the last establishment favorite the party put forward.
"I think that they are very much on the same place on most of the issues," Vin Weber, a former House member and special adviser to Romney in 2012, said. On foreign policy, taxes and economic growth, “their positions are very similar, and on most of the other domestic and social issues they come down the same place as well.”
The main difference between the two is in the messenger — which of course is enormous, and represents the Rubio’s best hope of emerging from a bruising primary and ultimately winning the presidency. As he barnstormed South Carolina this week with the hopes of breaking away from the other establishment-aligned candidates, Rubio, more than any other candidate, has thrust his biography to the forefront when making his case to voters.
From start to finish, every stump speech is laced with anecdotes of his compelling life story: son of a bartender and a maid who came to the country with nothing; the guy who's lived paycheck to paycheck and carried student loans into his 40s. An unambigious contrast to your typical Republican politician, much less the son of political royalty and corporate buyout specialist.
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