Marco Rubio: A candidate still searching for a viable base
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Marco Rubio finds his Oval Office ambitions squeezed by Donald Trump's outsider ambush and the Republican Party's resulting identity crisis.
The Florida senator has struggled to reconnect with the kind of voters who sent him to Capitol Hill six years ago as a tea party favorite, instead watching them fuel Trump and his closest challenger to winning the GOP presidential nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Yet left to depend on more traditional Republicans, Rubio also has not fully harnessed the financial and organizational muscle of the GOP old-guard eager to derail Trump, with some backers of failed candidates like Jeb Bush remaining on the sidelines and others supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Rubio insists he feels "real good about the map as we move forward," telling the Associated Press in an interview late Sunday he believes voters across the GOP spectrum want "an optimistic message of conservatism," not just "anger and frustration."
[...] the result of Rubio's pitch so far is two wins out of 20 nominating contests — the second coming Sunday in Puerto Rico — and now he faces a must-win March 15 primary in his home state, where polls suggest Trump remains well-positioned to capture the winner-take-all prize of 99 delegates.
Rubio tells the story of his 2010 Senate bid, when he "took on" the "Washington establishment" by running against prohibitive favorite and then-Gov.
Brownback — who has abysmal approval ratings amid sweeping state budget cuts — drew boos in Kansas City when called upon to introduce his guest.