By admitting that Rubio had a bad moment, but emphasizing that Rubio recovered and had good second half of the debate. I'm not sure if there was a Luntz focus group tonight, but if there was, I wouldn't be surprised if Rubio's answers on what it means to be a conservative and abortion scored well with Republican primary voters.
I don't think anything can be salvaged between today and Tuesday. Tomorrow's pretty much a dead day in the campaign, leaving only Monday to really change message. I'd pivot to focus on Rubio's accomplishments in Washington and Tallahassee, if possible.
Luntz's focus groups have already been exposed as rigged for Rubio. I'm sure he'd have said he won the robot moment too.
In other words, let's dispel with this fiction that Frank Luntz doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing.
Luntz's focus group's determination that Rubio won the last Fox News debate was confirmed by the post-debate polling - and, ultimately, the Iowa caucus results. I don't think they are rigged for Rubio.
Most of the Democrats and ironic Democrat-leaning Trump supporters on this board don't understand Republican debate audiences and can't tell who is giving the most effective debate answers. Rubio's canned talking point answers resonate with the ordinary Republican primary voter more than most of the other Republican candidates.
Exactly this ^^^
Christie has always had strong debate performances but when have they helped them? Remember, Atlas thought John Kasich won the first debate (myself included), this just goes to show that we are VERY out of touch with the average Republican primary voter, so I think any attempt to analyze the effect of Rubio's gaffe needs to be done through the lens of a Republican primary voter.
This will stump his momentum, sure, but there's no way it will end his campaign.
