Marco Rubio reportedly banking on losing first 4 states, winning GOP nomination anyway


Publicly, Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign says it is competing to win the first four Republican presidential nominating contests in Iowa (Feb. 1), New Hampshire (Feb. 9), South Carolina (Feb. 20), and Nevada (Feb. 23), but the Florida senator's team also tells the Palm Beach Post that Rubio doesn't need to win any of those primaries or caucuses to win the nomination. History isn't on Rubio's side — no GOP nominee in the post-1968 presidential nomination era lost both Iowa and New Hampshire, and Rubio is down by at least 10 percentage points in both those states.
But the Rubio campaign is also right on the math — numerically, he doesn't need any of those states to win. "In a field this big I think we're going to be competing in March regardless of what happens in February," Rubio spokesman Alex Conant tells the Post. Some experts are sympathetic to the idea. "If you believe that an establishment candidate will win, at the moment it doesn't look like it will come from Iowa or New Hampshire," says University of Minnesota primaries number-cruncher Eric Ostermeier.
Florida Rep. Tom Rooney (R), the first member of Congress to endorse Rubio, told the Post that he thinks "Marco has a real good chance of getting third in Iowa, a real good chance of getting second in New Hampshire," but put one caveat on his optimism: "I don't know how much you can game-plan Donald Trump." Read more about Rubio's strategy at the Palm Beach Post.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Why are American conservatives clashing with Pope Leo?
Talking Points Comments on immigration and abortion draw backlash
-
9 haunted hotels where things definitely go bump in the night
The Week Recommends Don’t fear these spirited spots. Embrace them.
-
Saudi comedy fest exposes free speech schism in stand-up
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The decision by some of stand-up’s biggest names to attend a festival in a nation infamous for its censorship has the comedy world picking sides and settling old scores
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B deal
speed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits