Trey Gowdy endorses Marco Rubio during Iowa campaign stop

Rubio, however, landed a major endorsement from GOP South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy.

The stop also comes after a new attack ad against Rubio accused him of skipping out on important congressional meetings regarding the nation’s security and public safety.

But Salon’s Simon Maloy flagged an under-appreciated angle to all of this: “A$3 Gowdy-Rubio campaign tag team is actually kind of awkward for Rubio, given the extent to which their records clash”.

Tony’s entire commentary can be heard below. He has since distanced himself from the effort, while attacking rivals like Ted Cruz for his own amendment to the so-called Gang of Eight reform effort.

Rubio’s campaign all but said Gowdy would back him when it sent word this weekend that the congressman would campaign with the presidential candidate, and Gowdy officially blessed him Tuesday in Clinton, Iowa.

“We’re going to spend a lot of money over the next four weeks”.

“What I am willing to do is to tell you that I did exactly what I’m encouraging you to do”.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos survey ended on December 29, Rubio stands in third place among candidates for the Republican nomination for the November 2016 presidential election with 12 percent.

Trey Gowdy, though well respected among conservatives, and was one of the first elected officials to come of the tea party wave, the fact is he is an elected official. “But I’m going to vote for Marco Rubio”.

And he said that Rubio has the “ability to communicate our message of principled conservatism in a hopeful, aspirational, persuasive way”.

“Usually, I don’t think endorsements mean a great deal, but this is an exception”, said David Woodard, a Clemson University political science professor who has worked on Gowdy’s campaign in the past.