But unlike Virginia, Florida is a winner-take-all primary, meaning he must defeat Trump to capture all 99 delegates. If he loses, even his supporters concede there's virtually no path to the GOP nomination for Rubio. Some think it's already too late.
"It's over," said one dejected GOP senator who wants Rubio to win.
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Rubio supporter, said he still is banking on his colleague to pull off a win in Florida. But he was uncomfortable at Rubio's attacks on Trump.
"I probably would have stopped at, 'He wants to make the country orange.' That was pretty good," Flake said, referring to Rubio's joke about Trump's physical appearance. Asked about Rubio's "con artist" attacks on Trump, Flake said, "I don't know about that."
I don't think Rubio will win Florida so its pretty much over for the last real "establishment" candidate that could win left in the campaign. It was nice to see him punch back but staying above the fray usually pays more dividends. Especially with a bombast like Trump. Rubio would have looked like the adult in the room even though he is only 44.
Now he has to lose gracefully and move on to other things because guys like him and Paul Ryan are the real future of the GOP. He now needs to put his head down and create good legislation and have a list of real accomplishments to challenge Hillary in 2020. Maybe do some bipartisan things because rock-ribbed Conservatism has pretty much been destroyed by Trump. Maybe they will finally understand that they are only 30% of the electorate and shrinking fast.
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