Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a web ad on Tuesday morning highlighting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s previous praise for the senator following a Monday night report that Right to Rise, the Super PAC backing Bush, was planning a major ad blitz attacking Rubio.
The video from Rubio’s campaign titled “Before The Phony Attacks” shows Bush describing Rubio as “probably the most articulate conservative on the scene today” with “the fortitude to be a good president.” In the old clip featured in the video, Bush says he’s “a huge Marco fan.”
Rubio’s video comes after the New York Times reported that Right to Rise made a video attacking Rubio’s position on abortion. The senator stated over the summer that he does not support exceptions for cases of rape and incest in legislation banning abortion.
The Times reported that Right to Rise is willing to spend $20 million on an effort to defeat Rubio. The Super PAC held focus groups with New Hampshire voters in October, the results of which suggest that attacks highlighting Rubio’s missed votes on Planned Parenthood funding and the Iran nuclear deal could hurt the senator in the primary, according to the Times.
The Rubio campaign also used the New York Times report in a Monday night fundraising email.
“And they’re bragging about that? How is that the kind of ‘joyful’ campaign that Jeb claimed he wanted to run?!?!” Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan wrote in a fundraising email, referencing Bush’s previous comments that he was running for president “joyfully,” according to the Washington Post.
Watch the Rubio campaign’s video:
