Rubio's "3-5-3" Strategy

[President Johnson]

Of course not, he's finished after he gets creamed in Florida by TRUMP.

[Ljube]

- Successfully tore down the most admired woman in America and most popular politician in the country (particularly among Democrats) with faux scandals and endless negative coverage to the point that a self identified socialist will win a handful of states in the primary against her and some random neurosurgeon with no political experience and the most partisan and hated member of the US Senate can tie or lead her in general election polls.

Your idolizing of the most despised politician in the US, a proven liar and thief, narcissistic egomaniac and incompetent person responsible for destruction of many countries in the Middle East and countless deaths is disturbing.

- Donald Trump. Need I say more?

No.

[Mister Mets]

It could win him the nomination.

The goal is to consolidate support on the establishment side and get into a three man race with Trump and Cruz.

I'm sure he wouldn't mind doing better than third place, but managing expectations is part of the game in politics.

[Nyvin]

It's amazing how little Rubio has actually DONE and how little he actually WINS....and yet still the mainstream media all cling to him like his personal teddy bear.  

[IceSpear]

- Successfully tore down the most admired woman in America and most popular politician in the country (particularly among Democrats) with faux scandals and endless negative coverage to the point that a self identified socialist will win a handful of states in the primary against her and some random neurosurgeon with no political experience and the most partisan and hated member of the US Senate can tie or lead her in general election polls.

Your idolizing of the most despised politician in the US,

Uh...I'm pretty sure that's McConnell and Pelosi. Unless you're referring to just those running for president, in which case Jeb, Trump, and Cruz are all more unpopular than Hillary. Nice try though.

[Ljube]

- Successfully tore down the most admired woman in America and most popular politician in the country (particularly among Democrats) with faux scandals and endless negative coverage to the point that a self identified socialist will win a handful of states in the primary against her and some random neurosurgeon with no political experience and the most partisan and hated member of the US Senate can tie or lead her in general election polls.

Your idolizing of the most despised politician in the US,

Uh...I'm pretty sure that's McConnell and Pelosi. Unless you're referring to just those running for president, in which case Jeb, Trump, and Cruz are all more unpopular than Hillary. Nice try though.

I stand corrected.

I just needed to post that rant about Hillary.

[Badger]

There's actually a decent logical theory to this. There is a substantial portion of the GOP primary electorate, and an overwhelming share of the political brokers and money men who intensely dislike both Trump and Cruz. If he (or Bush, or even Kasich) can just hang on long enough for their competitors in the establishment lane to pull out, they've got a seriously legit chance.

The problems are all 3 establishment candidates are telling themselves the same thing, and time is running out before Trump probably builds a huge--nigh insurmountable--delegate lead before the establishment wing unites behind the last survivor. But yes, right now Rubio just needs to convincingly beat Bush and Kasich to get them out of the race. Then he'll have his real shot at Trump, though the clock is ticking fast.....

[StatesPoll]

When is he planning on, you know, WINNING a state?

+1

Marco Robotbio is finished by christie.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

The media will still CREAM themselves no matter what position Rubio is in.

[pikachu]

Any canidate not named Marco Rubio would be completely unviable if they finished 3-5-3. IceSpeR's correct that the media's trying to push a pro-Rubio narrative.

[Mr. Morden]

There's actually a decent logical theory to this. There is a substantial portion of the GOP primary electorate, and an overwhelming share of the political brokers and money men who intensely dislike both Trump and Cruz. If he (or Bush, or even Kasich) can just hang on long enough for their competitors in the establishment lane to pull out, they've got a seriously legit chance.

Yes, I agree.  The people who are framing this as "media spin" are missing the point.  Just like I said in my New Hampshire thread about this:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=228157.msg4890974#msg4890974

the thing that'll determine whether Rubio has a shot at the nomination is whether he can force all of his "establishment" rivals out of the race before Super Tuesday.  Even aside from the "political brokers and money men", there are the actual voters who currently support Bush/Kasich, who would go with Rubio before either Cruz or Trump.  That means that his imperative is to destroy Bush and Kasich in SC and NV.  The margin by which he can beat them (assuming he can) is probably more important than where he finishes relative to Trump and Cruz.

Doesn't matter whether this is "fair".  That's just the way it is.