http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/marco-rubio-robot-moment-debate-223515
Rubio second-guesses himself on robotic moment
By Nick Gass
05/24/16 11:17 AM EDT
Seeking to dispel the notion that his robotic utterances in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary alone doomed the trajectory of his campaign, Marco Rubio pointed to his decision to quarrel with Chris Christie over the point of his repeated lines on the debate stage rather than let it go.
“I think if we had made a strategic decision in New Hampshire different from the one I made — which was not to engage with Chris Christie, but to try to just ignore it and just stay on message — that would have been a nothing," the Florida senator said in an interview with the Guardian published Tuesday.
I think the article is a bit misleading/inconsistent. A bit further down, it quotes Rubio as saying:
“I don’t think it impacted voters, but I do think it impacted media coverage in the days leading up to the New Hampshire vote, which I think ultimately hurt us,” Rubio said. “I think we would have finished very strongly in New Hampshire had it not been for that, and it might have led to a different outcome in South Carolina and maybe changed the trajectory of the race.”
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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/marco-rubio-robot-moment-debate-223515#ixzz49b7Ld6oQ Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
So he's blaming the media for blowing it out of proportion, but still admits it was a turning point.
It's interesting to speculate what would have happened had he performed as well in that debate as he had in others. He likely would have come in second, at least, in NH, and probably forced out Kasich in addition to the other candidates. He still may not have overcome Trump, but he'd have one more states after than, and he and Cruz together may have had enough votes to stop Trump.
But...the truth is that he did screw it up, so we'll never know.
