Rubio Is Playing a Long Game

New York Times: “First, Rubio’s strategists believe that the conventional wisdom about this being a two-man race is wrong. That’s because those two men, Trump and Cruz, remain unacceptable candidates to the G.O.P.’s establishment donor class. Rubio’s people believe that even if the two anti-establishment candidates win the first four contests (in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada), neither of them will be able to coax the party’s benefactors into coalescing around them as Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney were able to do after their early victories.”

“Because of this, the Rubio campaign argues that as long as their candidate can dominate the establishment field in the early primaries, Republican donors will soon pressure the others occupying that space — chiefly Bush, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio — to leave the race. Until that happens, Rubio’s advisers assert, Rubio can stay even with Trump and Cruz in the overall delegate count simply by winning Florida and Ohio on March 15 while placing third in the 33 other contests up to that point. Once the party does anoint Rubio as the last, best hope to defeat Trump and Cruz, money will pour in and delegate-rich states like New York, Pennsylvania and California will follow.”