Could Puerto Rico, Florida primaries be turning point for Marco Rubio?

THERE’S only one person left who can halt Donald Trump’s march to power, and he’s managed to get under the real estate mogul’s skin.

HE’S a telegenic 44-year-old with the support of party elites, and now Marco Rubio could be the only man standing in the way of Donald Trump’s march to power.

The senator from Florida unleashed on Trump during last week’s Republican debate, hammering him for hiring illegal immigrants, setting up a “fake” university and offering only the shallowest of policies.

Rubio has spent the days since then trading increasingly juvenile taunts and insults with the real estate mogul in an attempt to get under his skin. It’s a desperate gambit to distinguish himself as the “anti-Trump” in the Republican field - something he’s failed to do until this point.

Smiling assassin... Rubio needles Trump during the debate.

Rubio finishing second in the most recent primary contest in Nevada, more than 20 points behind Trump and only slightly ahead of fellow senator Ted Cruz.

His backers are hoping that primaries in Florida and Puerto Rico, the Caribbean island that has no say over who the President actually is but the same number of delegates as New Hampshire in the primary race (23), will give him a boost that could help him wrest the lead from the real-estate mogul.

“Rubio’s increasingly tenuous path depends on his ability to win a series of winner-take-all states with high proportions of white-collar, college-educated Republicans,” writes David Wasserman on FiveThrityEight, adding that it’s still technically possible for him to win if he takes Puerto Rico and his home state of Florida in the coming weeks.

So far, four of the island’s Republican leaders have pledged their support to him, which could have added significance given the one million Puerto Rican voters in Florida — another crucial state with a whopping 99 delegates on the Republican side. The upcoming primary is seen as the final chance for Rubio to turn the tide in his favour in a race that is looking increasingly like it’s Trump’s to lose.

The small indebted territory of Puerto Rico has out-size influence on the nomination race, with a primary held on March 6. Picture: AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo

WHO IS MARCO RUBIO?

The son-of-Cuban immigrants is backed by the Republican establishment and has positioned himself as part of a new political generation separate from the Bush-Clinton dynasty that has dominated the US for decades.

His well-told campaign story includes details of how his bartender father and maid mother worked their way into the American middle classes in Miami and Las Vegas. He used Miami’s Freedom Tower, the first port of call for Cubans entering the US, as the launching pad for his campaign and has based his rhetoric around rejuvenating the “American Dream”.

He wants to cut taxes, clear red tape for business and stop China “undermining” America on foreign policy. He has also pledged to roll back Obama’s thawing of relations with Cuba and fight radicalisation, in comments that have sparked alarm among some commentators.

But Rubio is yet to win a single primary — something he blames on the fractured Republican field, which still includes Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Jeb Bush and Chris Christie have recently dropped out.

“Until there’s some consolidation here, you’re not going to have a clear alternative to Donald Trump,” Rubio said after his defeat in Nevada.

“If we don’t come together, we’re never going to be able to provide a clear alternative to the direction that Donald Trump wants to take the Republican Party and the country.”

Did someone say president? Donald Trump has maintained his hold at the front of the Republican field, much to the horror of some in the party. Picture: AP Photo/Steve Helber

TRUMP DOUBLE-TEAMED

Rubio, who’d previously focused his attacks on candidates other than Trump, finally unleashed on the frontrunner during last week’s debate. He teamed up with another rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, to question Trump’s temperament, honesty and knowledge.

Responding to a question about illegal immigration, Rubio hammered Trump for employing illegal immigrants for the construction of his most famous building, Trump Tower, and accused him of hiring “a significant number of people from other countries to take jobs that Americans could have filled”.

“You’re the only person on this stage that’s been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally,” he said.

Trump responded by pointing out Rubio’s lack of experience in business, but that only played into another line of attack.

“I don’t know anything about bankrupting companies,” Rubio shot back, referring to Trump’s four bankruptcies. “I don’t know anything about starting a fake university.”

Trump is currently involved in lawsuits alleging his so-called Trump University defrauded its students, who claim they learned nothing useful after paying $36,000.

When the conversation later turned to health care, Rubio repeatedly pushed Trump to outline his plans. Trump rehashed the same answer over and over, and Rubio pounced.

“Now he’s repeating himself,” he said, before reeling off Trump’s usual talking points. “Everyone’s dumb, he’s going to make America great again, win win win, he’s winning in the polls. And the lines around the states. Every night, same thing!”

The crowd applauded gleefully, and Trump fumed.

Trump wasn’t happy about Rubio’s onslaught.

‘THE CHARADE IS UP’

Rubio escalated his feud with Trump further the day after the debate, labelling him a “con artist”.

“It is time to open our eyes and see what’s happening here. The charade is up. This is a con job,” Rubio said at a rally in Texas.

“We have a con artist as the frontrunner in the Republican Party. A guy who has made a career out of telling people lies so they’ll come in and buy his product.

“If you nominate me, you will have a conservative who unites the Republican Party and brings us together after this circus act we’ve had to live with for nine months.”

Rubio didn’t stop there. Drawing on the energy generated by his debate performance, the 44-year-old turned one of Trump’s insults back against him.

“He called me Mr Meltdown. Let me tell you something. Last night in the debate, during one of the breaks, two of the breaks, he went backstage and he was having a meltdown,” Rubio told his supporters.

“First he had this little makeup thing applying makeup around his moustache, because he had one of those sweat moustaches. Then he asked for a full-length mirror. I don’t know why ... maybe to make sure his pants weren’t wet.”

Rubio has been reading out Trump’s more striking tweets for a laugh during his rallies.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY CLOSING

Rubio’s chance to make a mark in the race is quickly disappearing, with the next two weeks critical in firming up who the final Republican nominee will be.

Commentary’s John Podhoretz has called for him to start stepping up, with Super Tuesday primaries in mainly southern states likely to favour Trump and Cruz.

“Republicans who are horrified at the prospect of a Trump presidency actually need a champion. Rubio and Ted Cruz seem to think they can ride an anti-Trump wave, but unless they are the ones both to stir up the waters and ride the wake, there isn’t going to be one,” he wrote.

“There are 12 primaries/caucuses on Tuesday night and Trump is leading in all but one of them. If he runs the table, this is the end for these guys.”

Super Tuesday will see 12 states choose their nominees, plus American Samoa. It counts for about one quarter of delegates on the Republican side and 21 per cent for Democrats. This will be followed by Puerto Rico on March 6 and Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri and Illinois on March 15.

As it stands, Trump has 82 of the 1237 delegates necessary to win the republican nomination while Clinton has 497 of the 2382 she needs to beat the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who has 69. Marco Rubio stands at 16, one behind Ted Cruz.