Marco Rubio: Debate Attack Didn’t Help Chris Christie

US presidential candidates Trump (L), Ted Cruz (M) and Jeb Bush spar during a debate session.

All three of the tied-for-third Republicans face the classic problem of candidates in multi-candidate races. And it’s a tension that you can be sure Hillary Clinton is going to try to exploit at tonight’s debate and as she today picks up the endorsement from the Congressional Black Caucus’ campaign arm. The harshest attacks elicit the biggest responses at rallies, on the Internet and on cable TV.

New Hampshire destroyed any momentum Rubio had coming out of Iowa and for now, at least, locks the senator into a messy muddle in his party’s establishment wing. He joked after the event he was going to be Rubio’s vice president and said he had thought of two lines the day before if he was allowed to ask a question – the Terminator line referencing former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar and one referencing Optimus Prime.

“It’s one of the reasons I won”. Trump stopped and pointed at her, declaring: “She just said a bad thing”. He drew contrasts with Trump as he told a crowd of 500 in Myrtle Beach that Texans and South Carolinians are more alike than not.

Clinton’s campaign argues she will perform better as the race heads to more racially diverse states, including Nevada and SC.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, this week spoke of the snark that characterized a Republican race of the past when he recalled that Ronald Reagan was described by rivals as an “unshapely man” and a “yahoo” before his election as president in 1980. And Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Ben Carson all stump in SC, too. The put-down was re-tweeted almost 3,000 times and “liked” by more than 4,000 users. The Florida senator now enters SC beleaguered, and less close to winning over the establishment “bracket” than it was 24 hours ago. “The results of the first two states are in, and it’s clear that we are down to a two person race – me vs. Donald Trump!… It’s all negative”, Kasich said. And that pressure could likely lead to many elected supers – perhaps anxious about a future Dem primary – to suddenly get cold feet on Clinton and simply promise to support the Dem who wins their district or state.

While many have gleefully or indifferently watched as candidates hurled barb after barb, others have condemned it. Clinton said she has “no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support”. Donald Trump holds a rally in Baton Rouge, LA at 8:00 pm ET…

“I will be a conservative candidate embracing conservative values”.

But achieving that will be an uphill climb for the latest Bush to run for president.

“Roosevelt loved more than anything else to be the centre of attention, and he had a huge, huge ego”, Purdy said. Las Vegas casino titans Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn both gave the maximum they could to the campaign during the last campaign fundraising quarter, yet neither of the magnates has given large checks to the pro-Cruz super PAC effort. “They haven’t had the experiences that their mothers and grandmothers did”.

The former president will join Jeb Bush at the North Charleston Coliseum at 6 p.m. Monday, a Bush campaign staffer said.

“They’re incredibly personal attacks, and they’re not just attacks just on somebody’s position, they’re attacks about personal characteristics”, he said. I’d go home if I didn’t think I could compete.

On Friday, Trump suggested he agreed.

“I would be surprised if it’s not May or the convention”, he said Wednesday. “And one of those is we need to protect the homeland from Islamic terrorism, and you don’t do that by banning all Muslims”. “I wouldn’t be proud of that to be honest with you”.