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As rivals pounce, Marco Rubio steps up campaigning schedule

 
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican presidential candidate, speaks at an event Monday in Rochester, N.H. He held two town halls that day and showed up at a diner.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican presidential candidate, speaks at an event Monday in Rochester, N.H. He held two town halls that day and showed up at a diner.
Published Dec. 23, 2015

WASHINGTON — "We've been looking for Marco, but we can't find him. We've had the bus all over New Hampshire. . . . We understand he did a very quick town hall here and then left to go back to Madison Avenue in New York."

That was GOP presidential contender Chris Christie on MSNBC's Morning Joe, engaging in a playfully misleading attack on Marco Rubio, who has been in New Hampshire since Monday.

But there's a growing perception — fueled by a series of news reports — that the junior U.S. senator from Florida hasn't spent enough time courting presidential voters in early states.

Rubio hasn't focused on one state (Christie and Jeb Bush are duking it out for New Hampshire, for instance) and his campaign events tend to be shorter than those of his rivals. In Iowa, there's a joke Rubio is running for mayor of Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines, suggesting he hasn't ventured far.

"Is Marco Rubio In It To Win It?" was the headline on a piece Sunday on the conservative website RedState.com.

"He's missed an opportunity to connect with voters," Craig Robinson, a Republican activist in Iowa, said in an interview. "They feel like it's a light switch and they will flip it and everyone will be excited. But this isn't some algorithm: X number of days on the ground and X number of TV ads."

Early on, Rubio spent a lot of time raising money, a focus that had him in California and New York as much as Iowa and New Hampshire. His campaign team is also convinced the race is national, so TV news appearances are a premium. Rarely a day goes by without Rubio appearing on cable news.

"More people in Iowa see Marco on Fox & Friends than see Marco when he is in Iowa," campaign manager Terry Sullivan recently said.

Rubio still sits well in the polls, running about third behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and would be well-positioned to emerge as the mainstream favorite. Consistently strong debate performances have attracted highly coveted donors.

Perception has a way of becoming reality, however, and the danger is voters will see Rubio, 44, as lacking the fight and desire.

Even in New Hampshire voters are just starting to pay attention. Up to 45 percent don't settle on a candidate until three days before the primary, said Andrew E. Smith, a nonpartisan pollster in the state. "But any time you get a narrative you have to explain that it's not true, you're losing ground. You can't risk the percent of alienating or disrespecting the voters whose votes you need."

As the chatter has grown, Rubio has made a deliberate attempt to change the narrative.

Monday in New Hampshire he held two town halls and popped into a diner in Meredith, his campaign making sure to fill it with supporters.

"At the stop, Rubio seemed determined to prove his critics wrong," NBC News observed. "He stayed for over an hour, shaking every hand, answering every question and taking every picture."

He followed a similar path Tuesday, stopping by a gun shop after a town hall.

At the same time, Rubio's rivals have taken digs at his absence from elected duty in Washington. "Where in the World is Marco Rubio?" asked an ad from Rand Paul, which focused on Rubio skipping a vote Friday on a massive spending bill. "In essence, not voting for it, is a vote against it," Rubio told CBS News in Iowa.

Rubio's campaign says it doesn't comment on "process stories," though it has discounted the talk.

"Truth is that Marco's spent more time campaigning in early states this month than any other candidate," spokesman Alex Conant said.

The campaign did not provide statistics to back that up, but National Journal's campaign tracker suggests Rubio has been on the ground plenty. He has 118 total trips to early states, equal to Christie, though the New Jersey governor nearly doubles appearances in New Hampshire.

Bush, a self-described "grinder," has made 170 trips. Last week he held four town halls in one day in New Hampshire.

The former governor is back in New Hampshire this week and showing signs of life — at least in the eyes of the political press. As the race puts a focus on national security, Bush has been one of the few Republicans to directly confront Trump.

"I promise I won't talk about Trump again," Bush told voters at a town hall in Berlin, N.H., Tuesday. The vow lasted three minutes.

A national Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday had Rubio in third, behind Trump and Cruz. Bush was in sixth, just behind Christie. Rubio is also third in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two nominating states.

Rubio will pivot back to Iowa on Dec. 28 for a three-day bus tour his campaign is calling, "Out With The Old, In With The New."

The coming weeks will answer whether Rubio squandered an opportunity or played it smart.

Contact Alex Leary at aleary@tampabay.com. Follow @learyreports.