Largely seen as an underdog until last week, Marco Rubio will take the stage on Nov. 10 in Milwaukee as a potential Republican candidate, who ultimately will be required to challenge the Democrat nominee for the White House – who at the moment appears to be Hillary Clinton.
Born to Cuban immigrants, the 44-year-old Senator from Florida emerged from the Wednesday night debate in Colorado as a leading contender, despite lagging far behind to party rivals Donald Trump and Ben Carson who currently lead the polls.
“Marco Rubio now has probably the best short to emerge as the mainstream alternative to Trump and Caron,” Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush, was quoted as saying by a Washington Post report.
The report came after the Oct. 28 debate hosted by CNBC where Ted Cruz, a fiery senator from Texas also put on a strong showing.
Rubio’s chances have been further bolstered by the endorsement from Paul Singer, a billionaire New York investor, said to be one of the most influential Republican donors who had been frantically sought after by several GOP candidates, including Jeb Bush, one time political mentor of Rubio.
The second Republican showdown inside two weeks, on Saturday, will provide a perfect venue to Rubio to build on his fast-emerging image of someone who could put a more unified face to GOP’s rudderless ship of candidates who are doing more harm than good to the party.
Launching his political career by winning a seat on the West Miami City in 1998 at the age of 27, it took him little over a decade to rise to the rank of a senator and was even branded as a running mate for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.
He has been an active legislator as member of several committees, including the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the committee on Foreign Affairs.
“Wait for what,” was the reply from Rubio when a CNBC moderator said he had been a young man in a hurry and suggested to him “Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start.
“This country is running out of time. We can’t afford to have another four years like the last eight years,” Rubio told the moderator. While replying the same question, Rubio also indicated he was out of favor with the Republican establishment over his candidacy. “That’s an interesting question. That’s exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don’t you wait in line?”
One sterling performance in a debate certainly can’t get him the Republican ticket to White House and he will have to do more to sell him as a candidate who can win Oval office for the party. The air about the Republican front-runners will likely get more clear after the first contest in Iowa, just about three months away. However, the field appears to be narrowing for many including the GOP establishment candidate Jeb Bush, who has failed to shine as per expectations. How Rubio competes with freewheeling Trump and unpredictable Carson -who both have annoyed minorities with their exclusionary comments – will determine the outcome of his campaign.
While Rubio may still has a hard fight ahead in proving his credentials as a matured diplomat and a prudent economic manager, his background can undoubtedly help bring back millions of Latinos – now totals over 55 million — and Asian voters, or at least a part of it, who have been alienated by most Republican candidates for their hardline approach to immigration and immigrants.
The young Republican can also be more appealing to millennials — or America’s youth born between 1982 and 2000, who now number over 83 million.
“If Marco is the nominee, we will defeat Hillary Clinton,” Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant claimed according to The Washington Post. “There is a very clear generational contrast between her message and Marco’s.”
For Clinton, preventing the repeat of what happened in 2008 is more important than Rubio who still has many hurdles to cross and beat several roaring horses.
The first NBC online poll conducted by SurveyMonkey team shows departure of Vice President Joe Biden from the scene, and her steely presentation before her 11- hour scrutiny by the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks, has boosted Clinton’s lead, though Bernie Sanders remains a challenger.
Back in 2007, when she announced to run, she led her democratic rivals by a wide margin for several months, but eventually bowed out on the final day of primaries on June 3, 2008 by conceding defeat to the then Senator Barack Obama despite earning more popular votes than him.
Featured image : By Michael Vadon via Wikimedia Commons
