Marco Rubio Says Ted Cruz Is the Only Conservative In the Race

Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. talk after a Republican presidential primary debate, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Via Twin Cities Pioneer Press:

Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio told a group of Minnesota supporters Wednesday he is hoping one of the remaining candidates for president will stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination — and that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz could be the best option for conservatives.

Rubio, who dropped out of the race Tuesday after losing his home state of Florida, didn’t endorse any of his former rivals in a conference call with dozens of Minnesota supporters. In the call, he explained his decision to leave the race and why he felt his presidential campaign didn’t do better, and suggested he might run for office again at some point in the future.

He said he saw no real path forward for his campaign after losing Florida and its 99 winner-take-all delegates. He acknowledged he could have stayed in the race with the intention of seeking the nomination at the convention, but said he would have had to run a shoestring campaign with no money to defend himself.

He didn’t endorse either Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the two other remaining candidates. But Rubio praised Cruz as “the only conservative left in the race.”

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This is a good sign though an endorsement would have been much better. If Ted Cruz is going to stop Donald Trump the 60+% of the GOP electorate that has rejected Trump so far must coalesce behind one candidate and that candidate is not John Kasich. I suspect the online Rubio fans who treated Rubio’s various 2d, 3d, and 4th place finishes as signs that he was winning will join the #NeverCruz camp, and good riddance, but the great majority of GOP voters will probably decide to vote for Cruz whether or not they like him.

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