Friday, October 30, 2015

First Read: As Rubio Ascends, Scrutiny Increases

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
 
Marco Rubio takes center stage -- as the attacks and scrutiny increase

When the Republican presidential race first started (and before Donald Trump and later Ben Carson took off), there were three co-frontrunners -- Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker. Well, Walker dropped out of the contest in September. Bush now finds his campaign on the ropes. And that now leaves us with Rubio, who campaigns today in Iowa and who very well might be your sole "establishment" frontrunner in the 2016 race. But, of course, with that new spotlight and designation come more scrutiny and attacks. US News got its hands on a 112-page report from the Bush campaign that's largely an oppo dump on Rubio. One slide is entitled "Marco Is A Risky Bet," and "it bullet-points Rubio's 'misuse of state party credit cards, taxpayer funds and ties to scandal-tarred former Congressman David Rivera.'… Another bullet point says Rubio's 'closeness with Norman Braman, who doubles as personal benefactor[,] raises major ethical questions.'… The most cryptic slight is left for last: 'Those who have looked into Marco's background in the past have been concerned with what they have found.'" Yet Beth Myers, who led Mitt Romney's VP vetting process, emailed Politico that Rubio "passed" the campaign's vetting (but Rubio ultimately wasn't a top finalist to be Romney's VP pick). Our take: With this report to U.S. News, is the Bush campaign doing ANOTHER favor for Rubio -- by telegraphing the attacks coming his way? After all, we saw how that played out in Wednesday's debate. 

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