Third-Place Finisher Rubio: ‘I Will Be Our Nominee’

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., acknowledges the audience at a caucus night celebration, Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-TX) patted himself on the back after a third place finish in the Iowa caucuses, telling a Des Moines audience “this is the moment they said would never happen.”

“I will be our nominee, thanks to what you have done here in this great state,” Rubio said. “When I am our nominee, we are going to unify this party, and we are going to unify the conservative movement. When I’m our nominee, we are going to grow the conservative movement.”

Rubio took approximately 23 percent of the Associated Press votes counted by 11 p.m. ET, in a surprisingly close finish behind winner Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and runner-up Donald Trump. Cruz took approximately 28 percent of the vote, and Trump garnered approximately 24 percent.

Rubio, the first candidate to speak after GOP poll results were called, spent much of his speech bashing President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for cf2k cf2k says:

    Tonight, at least, Charles and David won’t be crying into the pillows.

  2. But Marco will be biting his as he shows his gratitude.

  3. Rubio: ‘I Will Be Our Nominee’

    That’s just the water talking.

  4. There is a path for him at least. I wouldn’t go that far, but its definitely a different direction than the pitch he has been making the past 3 days.

    If the wheels start coming off the Trump bus…and that’s still pretty iffy, but definitely possible, given what we saw from a lackluster ground game, and Rubio can finally seal the deal with the voters in NH and put some distance between him and rest of the “establishment” pack…he would be in very good shape going forward.

    But there are a lot of IFs in there.

  5. You’ll always be a pendejo.

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