Rubio looks to NH to peg himself as a Republican for all

Rubio laid claim to that title of establishment frontrunner Monday night by coming within a percentage point of populist billionaire Donald Trump’s second-place finish and not far behind Iowa victor Ted Cruz, the ultra-conservative US senator from Texas. “If there are policy differences with other candidates, we’ll discuss it”. “These [Rubio] town halls are very quick; they’re in and out”.

The establishment largely finds Trump and Cruz objectionable, with concerns that the party will lose the general election if one of the two wins the nomination. New Hampshire has its presidential primary on February 9.

She said she felt Rubio was a candidate who could appeal to younger and older voters.

Cruz won Iowa because of his ability to draw conservative evangelicals, his bread and butter voters, to the caucuses.

Marco Rubio’s strong third-place finish in Iowa could sound like a starting gun to the Republican Party’s top donors.

“So when the time comes and it’s appropriate, we’ll do so”, he said.

In New Hampshire, Christie also trails rivals, but his campaign has promoted the chance for the race to shift among still-undecided voters. Chris Christie a sore loser after Christie accused him of being the “boy in the bubble” who won’t take questions.

Rubio insisted he remains the best opportunity for Republicans to snatch back the White House, and that embracing Trump’s divisiveness or Cruz’s extremes will lead to four more years of a Democrat at the helm.

If he is the nominee, “we’re going to beat Hillary Clinton and we’re going to turn America around”.

Rubio also said he could sense the growing support in Iowa before the caucuses.

The reality is that Christie, Bush and Kasich are the ones who most need to step up and prove they are viable candidates, said Republican Party of Charlotte County Chairman Bill Folchi.

To a woman who asked about his “hothead” reputation, Christie said there was a rationale for his style – “I get angry at injustice”, he said – and argued that it would serve the country well to have a fiery leader. “The New Hampshire primary is going to be very telling”. He said he has been impressed with what he calls the Rubio team’s “message and strategic discipline”. Rosen said he’d received – unprompted – about 20 emails in the early hours Tuesday from people asking how they can give money to Rubio’s campaign.

“Kasich is betting there’s a significant number of American voters who think the world isn’t going to hell”.

As the presidential race moved to New Hampshire on Tuesday – one week before the primary – the winners in Iowa sought capitalize on momentum, while others argued that the race remained an open contest.