The road to 2016 will go through Rubio

[Havax]

How will we take him down?

I was certain the road would go through Romney in 2012 before he announced his run for President back in like 2008. Rubio is the guy they will push. He's a phenomenal speech-giver but I've noticed he isn't that smooth in interviews (which leads me to believe he can be weak in debates).

[Czolgosz]

The GOP is a private entity w/ owners who won't allow you to get a small government guy into office.

[realtonygoodwin]

Start here: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/103395/marco-rubio-david-rivera-florida?page=0,0

[alucard13mmfmj]

what if rubio was a distraction... remember santorum? ignored him and then bam, he santorumed us in iowa.

[FrankRep]

How will we take him down?

Here's a start:

Rubio Embraces Interventionist Foreign Policy (http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/11170-rubio-embraces-interventionist-foreign-policy) - 30 April 2012



In Wednesday's speech at the Brookings Institution, Sen. Marco Rubio made it clear he would pose no threat to the interventionist foreign policy of both political parties.


Despite Minor Differences, Romney and Rubio Look to UN For Syrian Policy (http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/12303-despite-minor-differences-romney-and-rubio-look-to-un-for-syrian-policy) - 03 August 2012



Mitt Romney and possible running mate Marco Rubio disagree on a few points with regard to Syria, but both look to the UN for cues on Syrian policy.


Are Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal Natural-born Citizens? (http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/12245-are-marco-rubio-and-bobby-jindal-natural-born-citizens) - 29 July 2012



There is significant evidence that neither Marco Rubio nor Bobby Jindal is a natural born citizen as required of President by the Constitution.

[Odin]

Rubio will undoubtedly be the frontrunner if he decides to run. I think we can beat him. Divide and conquer strategy.

Rand has to do a good job in the debates, unlike Ron he is acceptable to the masses I guess, and a few early state wins could easily propel him to the nomination.

[mz10]

We have to work extremely hard to inform people about his big-government views. I don't think we should smear him in a personal sense; that would look bad on us. But we need to make sure Tea Party people know he is not really one of them.

[dskalkowski]

We start in Iowa; home to the Mid-western folks. They like a down-to-Earth kind of guy who can talk to the heart. Marco Rubio is polished, and can give a speech. But I don't know if he can reach the heart. That's how Rick Santorum got Iowa—hard campaigning and reaching out. And we can do that. We have the organization. And a win in Iowa would projectile us to the front no doubt.

[Havax]

We have to have something besides his interventionist policies. Another 4 more years of Obama's wars might let the GOP naturally accepting of anti-war language however.

[CaptLouAlbano]

The answer is quite simple. If the 2016 calendar is the same or similar to 2012 we can expect the following states to have their contests prior to Super Tuesday: IA, NH, SC, FL, NV, CO, MN, ME, AZ, MI, WY, WA (in order of 2012 dates). Rand will need wins in several of those states in order to be a viable contender for the nomination. Forget about "stealth delegates" - winning states is what will win the nomination.

So if you are a resident of any of those states, it is a high priority for you to become involved in your County GOP Committee. The more allies Paul has at the local level, the easier it will be for him to be competitive in that state. If your home county is majority controlled by liberty/Tea Party people, then Paul may be able to secure the endorsement of the county committee which will place the efforts of committee men focused on seeing him win the county.

Victory is ultimately in the hands of the candidate, but if we want to help Rand from our end it involves us getting directly involved in the electoral process. So find your County committee's website and get involved.

[mosquitobite]

There's a lot of Jindal talk as well. I think Rubio is the Romney establishment style choice. The socials will go towards Jindal.

[mosquitobite]

Victory is ultimately in the hands of the candidate, but if we want to help Rand from our end it involves us getting directly involved in the electoral process. So find your County committee's website and get involved.

This this this!

The convention is only ours if we're able to educate and convert! You only do that when you're in the trenches volunteering and gaining their trust!

[CaptUSA]

How will we take him down?

YOU DON'T!

I really hope people have learned something from this last primary process. We don't have to take out these other fake politicians now. They will do the job themselves.

What we DO have to do is to make Rand a viable alternative. GOP voters will continually drift with whoever they find palatable. If Rubio is someone's first choice, make sure their second is Rand. If their first choice is Jeb, make sure their second is Rand. This is THE best strategy for winning a GOP primary. Does anyone think Romney was someone's first choice? How about McCain? No. But they were an acceptable alternative to whoever was leading the pack. Trying to knock off the top contender now just means we'll have to keep knocking off the next one.

We shouldn't be telling anyone that their hopeful is wrong, only that ours is good, too. This will pay off. Do it the other way, and you run the risk of turning them off to Rand. Extremely counter-productive.


Now, that's only how to position Rand. To really help, we need to take over more local control of the party. Get involved!!! Get those committee spots!

[itshappening]

we have a superior organization in IA, NH, SC, NV built over many years that can't easily be replicated even by a candidate the media are determined to shove down the people's throat, the primary map is very favourable to us

do not worry, stay calm and focus on strengthening our organizing in those states. Ron got over 25% of the vote in IA and NH... Rand can do better than that IMO.

[KMX]

Rand will get the same thing his father got. Get real if you think we are going to win this with a "vote" in 2016. The elite are smarter then that.

[Cowlesy]

Why should Rubio be a frontrunner? Wtf has he even done yet other than be a talk-show darling. Rand at least is in the trenches fighting in the Senate. Rubio just trots around like he's some grassroots'r, when in fact he was handpicked by the neoconservatives because of his willingness to sit in their lap for foreign policy. And prior to the U.S. Senate, he was an overpaid state level bureaucrat.

If the GOP takes Rubio in 2016, I guarantee a loss. I'm not voting for him simply because of foreign policy.

[kathy88]

what if rubio was a distraction... remember santorum? ignored him and then bam, he santorumed us in iowa.


EEEWWWWWW

[mz10]

There's a lot of Jindal talk as well. I think Rubio is the Romney establishment style choice. The socials will go towards Jindal.

But remember that technically speaking he is a Tea Party guy, since they supported him over Crist (which, by the way, I'm glad they did; Crist is horrendous). He may not be a real conservative, but he is their guy so a lot of them like him.

[matt0611]

Rand will get the same thing his father got. Get real if you think we are going to win this with a "vote" in 2016. The elite are smarter then that.

Ron was within few percent of winning Iowa...

If not for the damn media playing their "newsletter" BS in the last few weeks who knows what might have happened.

[realtonygoodwin]

I've got about 370 pages of Rubio stuff in a pdf I can send whoever wants it. It's somewhere around 16mb.

[eleganz]

I've got about 370 pages of Rubio stuff in a pdf I can send whoever wants it. It's somewhere around 16mb.

Just put it on a website.

Something like www.marcorubiotruth.com the closer to marcorubio2016 you get the better.

In which case, I just visited marcorubiopresident.com and it goes straight to his wiki page. Marcorubio2016.com is taken but there is no work done on it yet.

[thoughtomator]

Interestingly enough, the Rubio 2016 variant domain names were all registed in 2009-10, as were at least a couple of Rubio 2020 domain names I could find, and even a 2024 domain name.

[KingNothing]

Let's not destroy Rubio. If the last election cycle proved anything, it is that candidates tend to self-destruct under the intense pressure applied by the media, and that we probably won't need to bloody our hands. What we need to do is build Rand's infrastructure to be even stronger than it already is. If we become the establishment and grab every local GOP position that we can, Rand will be the only viable candidate. This, more than anything else, is what Romney did. He had thrown around so much money to get his people in positions of significance in the early states after his 2008 loss to McCain that he was able to hold off everyone else. That said, the amazing thing to take-away from our success at the precinct level last go-round is that there really just aren't that many people so motivated by neo-conservatism to hold enough positions of power to keep us down. Several elections of steady gains will be enough for us to completely take-over the party.

[mz10]

Let's not destroy Rubio. If the last election cycle proved anything, it is that candidates tend to self-destruct under the intense pressure applied by the media, and that we probably won't need to bloody our hands. What we need to do is build Rand's infrastructure to be even stronger than it already is. If we become the establishment and grab every local GOP position that we can, Rand will be the only viable candidate. This, more than anything else, is what Romney did. He had thrown around so much money to get his people in positions of significance in the early states after his 2008 loss to McCain that he was able to hold off everyone else. That said, the amazing thing to take-away from our success at the precinct level last go-round is that there really just aren't that many people so motivated by neo-conservatism to hold enough positions of power to keep us down. Several elections of steady gains will be enough for us to completely take-over the party.

Also, let's not over-scrutinize Rubio and in the process allow someone else to sneak by us. I agree that he's the one being pushed the hardest, but someone like Paul Ryan could easily win the nomination if we ignore him. Lets keep the focus on promoting Rand's positives.

[July]

Also, let's not over-scrutinize Rubio and in the process allow someone else to sneak by us. I agree that he's the one being pushed the hardest, but someone like Paul Ryan could easily win the nomination if we ignore him. Lets keep the focus on promoting Rand's positives.

Yeah remember how often the frontrunner and tea party favorite changed in the last election, almost weekly. Rubio may be bad on foriegn policy, but I wouldn't say he's the most liberal of the bunch on domestic issues... The media always steers towards the most centrist/moderate candidate out of the pack. At this point I would be more worried about what Christie does in NH, personally...

[jbauer]

Yeah remember how often the frontrunner and tea party favorite changed in the last election, almost weekly. Rubio may be bad on foriegn policy, but I wouldn't say he's the most liberal of the bunch on domestic issues... The media always steers towards the most centrist/moderate candidate out of the pack. At this point I would be more worried about what Christie does in NH, personally...

Ah, Christie will be dead of a heart attack by then

[Bruehound]

There's a lot of Jindal talk as well. I think Rubio is the Romney establishment style choice. The socials will go towards Jindal.

I'm not so sure about that. The social cons will go with whoever the biggest warmonger is.

[dinosaur]

Let's not destroy Rubio. If the last election cycle proved anything, it is that candidates tend to self-destruct under the intense pressure applied by the media, and that we probably won't need to bloody our hands.

Rubio doesn't have the baggage that Romney had, and will not split the party the same way that Romney did. There is a danger that he will unite too many (of the republican base) too quickly.

All that I can think of is to try, as much as we can, to get Rubio on record as much as possible before the 2016 season. How do we get him on record? We wouldn't even have known about Rubio's NDAA vote if Rand hadn't singlehandedly forced a vote in the Senate, so it is not going to be easy to reveal to people who he really is.

[FSP-Rebel]

Rubio doesn't have the baggage that Romney had, and will not split the party the same way that Romney did. There is a danger that he will unite too many (of the republican base) too quickly.

All that I can think of is to try, as much as we can, to get Rubio on record as much as possible before the 2016 season. How do we get him on record? We wouldn't even have known about Rubio's NDAA vote if Rand hadn't singlehandedly forced a vote in the Senate, so it is not going to be easy to reveal to people who he really is.
According to C-money around here, he's got more than enough baggage to hang himself on. Though I do agree that initially he won't be as toxic as Romney. It was brilliant of Rand to force a vote on that because he can play it off next time as an pro-Obama power and get true conservatives lining up against that executive overreach. It will be fun to watch Roob and his agent (Hannity) explain their way out of this paper box.

[realtonygoodwin]

From my research, he has quite a bit of baggage. I think right now he is one of the establishment picks, but we can't focus on him to the neglect of everyone else.