Marco Rubio

Plus, why you should always read the story.

That means you, Marco Rubio.

Meet the new Marco . . .

Marco Rubio warns that the United States is not ready for the havoc that impersonation technology can wreak.

Senators are coming together to examine ideas on paid family leave Wednesday, encouraged along by the support of first daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump.

What sort of nuclear cooperation has been taking place under the auspices of the deal?

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday reiterated support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in his address to the U.S. Congress. His remarks drew cheers from Democrats but a chilly reception from Iran hawks who want to withdraw from the deal.

Ending NASA's longest stretch without a permanent leader since it was first created

After President Donald Trump congratulated Russian leader Vladimir Putin on his re-election during a phone call Tuesday, some Republican senators questioned the wisdom of commending an autocrat whose election they see as fraudulent. Others brushed it off as a diplomatic nicety.

For the past three years, Russian opposition activists say, authorities have attempted to erase any trace of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in the spot where he was murdered—on a bridge just outside the Kremlin. But on Tuesday morning, Russian officials will wake up to an inescapable reality: The…

Florida senator Marco Rubio was grilled about his views on gun control before a stadium-sized live audience on CNN on Wednesday night. Some of the questions and comments were tough and smart; others were viciously ad hominem and stupid. But Rubio stood there and articulated why he opposed the…

The State Department is denying that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday described Hezbollah as a legitimate actor in the Lebanese government, after the secretary’s comments drew harsh criticism from regional experts.

Texas senator Ted Cruz on Thursday suggested that President Donald Trump buck members of the foreign policy establishment who are “desperately” trying to save the 2015 nuclear deal and not waive sanctions lifted under the agreement ahead of a series of related deadlines.

Will the president accept just about anything on tax reform? He seemed to suggest as much at his rally in Missouri Wednesday. “If they send it to my desk, I promise all of the people in this room, my friends, so many friends in this room—a great state—I promise you I will sign it,” Donald Trump…

It was just last September, in rural Pennsylvania, that Ivanka Trump first introduced supporters to her father’s promises of six weeks’ paid maternity leave and tax relief for child-care costs. These were policies she hoped to shepherd. A year later and an hour away in Bucks County, she held a town…

Hawkish Republican senators are advising President Donald Trump to decertify the Iran nuclear deal in October, a move that critics of the agreement see as a key step in changing U.S. policy toward Iran.

Let’s call her Jane. She’s 32 and a junior vice president at a big investment bank. The firm’s attempt at more manageable hours has made it possible for her to reshuffle her work and stay on after having a baby. But growing responsibilities to clients pull her away from her new role. She totes…

Let’s call her Jane. She’s 32 and a junior vice president at a big investment bank. The firm’s attempt at more manageable hours has made it possible for her to reshuffle her work and stay on after having a baby. But growing responsibilities to clients pull her away from her new role. She totes…

Republican lawmakers praised President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he would maintain U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and base further action on conditions on the ground rather than a predetermined timeline.

There’s not much more that can be said about President Trump’s insufficient and equivocal statement on Saturday in response to a rally of white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Virginia that turned violent. Our editor-in-chief, Stephen Hayes, demonstrated that Trump has a recent history of being…

“Proverbs is probably the most Republican book of the entire Bible.”

Florida senator Marco Rubio is fond of tweeting out Bible verses to his followers. Lately, he’s been quoting the Book of Proverbs. Believe it or not, this is grounds for criticism—and from a Hebrew Bible professor at the Yale Divinity School no less. Prof. Joel Baden writes in Politico that…

Ivanka Trump, assistant to and daughter of the president, trekked to Capitol Hill Tuesday for a meeting with Senator Marco Rubio to discuss the Florida Republican’s ideas on expanding child tax credits. The mini-summit provided the internet with a photo of Rubio greeting Ivanka at the Capitol in an…

President Trump announced Friday that the U.S. would strengthen economic and diplomatic sanctions on Cuba, undoing an Obama policy of more open relations with the Castro regime that Trump called "terrible and misguided."

The pressure to respond to a constant stream of Trump administration controversies appears to be taking its toll on congressional Republicans. Strain began to show on Capitol Hill Tuesday even before the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump asked James Comey in February to end the…

Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said Thursday that the bureau is continuing its work despite the sudden firing of James Comey, and that there have been no attempts yet to hinder the agency's efforts.

The Senate Intelligence committee investigation into Russian election interference may face a few procedural bumps but will ultimately be brought to fruition despite the Trump administration's firing of FBI director James Comey, Republican committee members said Wednesday.

Top Iranian officials are boasting that the nuclear deal enabled the country to make progress in developing advanced centrifuges, and broad production of some advanced models has already begun in the year since the deal was implemented, per Iranian media.

Republican Russia hawks, including Florida senator Marco Rubio, suffered from the Kremlin's early attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, an expert told lawmakers Thursday.

Congressional leaders are moving to respond to a last-minute transfer of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority by the Obama administration with a range of measures, including a possible total freeze of funds to the PA, according to senators and other sources who spoke to THE WEEKLY…

Florida senator Marco Rubio announced his support for President Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state ahead of a committee vote for the nominee Monday, setting aside reservations over the former oil executive's ties to the Kremlin and evasive answers on human rights violations.

Republican senator Marco Rubio told reporters Monday he is still mulling whether to support secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, a decision that could bode ill for the former Exxon Mobil CEO's confirmation hopes.

On Thursday, President Obama announced an end to the "wet foot, dry foot" policy that allowed most Cuban migrants who reach the United States to become legal permanent residents after one year.

Florida senator Marco Rubio pointedly asked secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson for his views on the Kremlin's treatment of political foes and activity in Syria during a confirmation hearing Wednesday, making for a tense exchange between the Russia hawk and the former Exxon Mobil CEO whose…

A bipartisan Senate push to censure the United Nations over a recent anti-Israel resolution is being stalled by a top Republican working to insert language increasing pressure on the U.N., an effort that has left the pro-Israel community seething and will make the measure irrelevant, according to…

The Obama administration is downplaying Iran's role in atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in order to avoid endangering last summer's landmark nuclear deal, a top lawmaker and experts tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Florida senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill on Tuesday that aims to help Puerto Rico's struggling economy with a "wage enhancement" plan.

Since 1992, even before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, U.S. policy has been based on the premise that Beijing's Communist leaders value Hong Kong's autonomy. The theory was that Beijing would not want to damage Hong Kong and so could be relied upon not to undermine Hong Kong's…

On Friday, four Republican senators introduced a bill that would prevent the Obama administration from paying certain insurers in what they say amounts to a "bailout" of Obamacare.

"Republicans Dominated The Senate Races, Except The Ones Who Dumped Trump," the Daily Caller reports. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway calls the story an "important read - and critical to remember moving forward. Still waiting for those stories on how Trump helped down-ballot [Republicans]…

In crucial states for Trump's path to the White House, incumbent Republican senators have cruised to victory in what had been previously expected to be close reelection contests.

With fewer than 24 hours until Election Day polls open, the race for control of the United States Senate is as tight as can be. Republicans face substantial structural challenges. They are defending more seats this cycle, and the nomination of Donald Trump has turned a winnable presidential…

Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, and Kelly Ayotte, and of all you desperate GOP candidates, threading the needle between a working class base in thrall to a demagogue and another fairly large bloc that detests him: Ike feels your pain. So does John Kennedy, and a very large group of the best and the…

Republican senator Marco Rubio is maintaining a six-point lead against Democratic congressman Patrick Murphy, according to a University of North Florida (UNF) poll released Thursday.

Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio has held on to a slight lead over Democratic congressman Patrick Murphy ahead of their final Senate debate in the Sunshine State Wednesday.

A right-wing news website worked with a far-left activist to disrupt the Republican primary opponents of Donald Trump. Politico reports:

President Obama spoke behind a campaign sign reading "Clinton/Kaine" in Florida on Thursday. But Donald Trump wasn't the only Republican on his mind.

If you put Marco Rubio's many opinions of Donald Trump and Election Day the last several months into a paragraph, there's a cohesive, though not entirely coherent progression in there:

The Senate Democrats' official campaign arm is pulling its remaining ad dollars from the Florida Senate race, a decision it said was not linked to Republican Marco Rubio's debate showing against challenger Patrick Murphy Monday night.

Like almost every Republican incumbent in a battleground state this year, Florida senator Marco Rubio had to survive the Donald Trump portion of a debate Monday night before he could focus the event on his own race. He succeeded in doing both—and he took advantage by outmaneuvering Democratic…

Why hasn't there been more disruption in Congress? Looking at the highly disruptive presidential primary campaign, some analysts are scratching their heads and asking that very question. In primary election after primary election, Republican congressional incumbents—such as Paul Ryan, John McCain,…

Florida senator Marco Rubio would not say Tuesday whether he still believes Donald Trump should not be trusted with the country's nuclear weapons codes.

There's more than one conspicuous absence from a list of top Democratic Senate targets published Friday, and it includes Florida.

Two recent Quinnipiac University polls have some good news for Senate Republicans.

The low point for Marco Rubio came on March 15 when he was trounced in the Republican presidential primary in Florida, his home state, by Donald Trump, 46 to 27 percent. At that point, it appeared Rubio would finish his Senate career at the end of the year and leave politics behind.

Executive editor Fred Barnes discussed Tuesday's tightest and most significant congressional primary races with the Wall Street Journal's Mary Kissel.

Florida senator Marco Rubio made one of his most definitive and direct statements in support of Donald Trump yet during a candidate forum this weekend, all but sloganeering the words "elect Trump".

House speaker Paul Ryan, Senator Marco Rubio, and other leading Republicans spoke in unusually frank terms about race Friday, following a string of fatal confrontations involving black men and law enforcement that have claimed seven lives this week.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer used logic frequently employed by pro-gun advocates to help justify his majority opinion in the Texas abortion clinic case decided Monday.

Now that Marco Rubio is vying to keep his Senate seat, he has one serious challenger in the primary: Carlos Beruff.

Congressman Patrick Murphy of Florida has long been considered by national Democrats as the party's best chance to snatch Republican Marco Rubio's seat. The young, attractive, establishment-friendly House member (from a wealthy family, no less) looked like a much surer and smarter bet when Barack…

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with online editor Michael Warren on Rubio's last-minute campaign announcement.

Republican senators shrugged off the potential ramifications of Donald Trump's fundraising deficit Tuesday and laughed about the possibility of the businessman self-funding his campaign as promised.

Florida congressman David Jolly dropped his Florida Senate bid Friday, clearing one of a few possible hurdles for Marco Rubio to run for the seat he intended to vacate.

When Marco Rubio returned to the Senate in March, fatigued from losing a battle against the most overwhelming presidential candidacy of modern times, he pledged to do some honest days' work—and then quietly step aside.

Senator Marco Rubio said Monday that he didn't want "politics to intrude" upon discussion of this weekend's terrorist attack in his home state. But when pressed by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, the Florida Republican suggested he is rethinking his decision not to run for reelection to the…

Almost a half-century ago, the great Donald Westlake published a comic mystery novel, God Save the Mark. It’s probably not one of Westlake's very best efforts (though even a Westlake non-best-effort is awfully good). The "mark" of the title is a reasonably intelligent and likable young man who…

Marco Rubio says in an interview set to air Sunday that he wants to be "helpful" to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, reasoning that he wants to stop Hillary Clinton from taking the White House.

Marco Rubio implicitly criticized Donald Trump's foreign policy platform Tuesday but said that he would not vocally condemn the presumptive Republican nominee in the months before the election.

Marco Rubio may be warming to Donald Trump. In an interview with the Palm Beach Post, Rubio praises the Republican frontrunner.

Sen. Marco Rubio shifted his rhetoric on Donald Trump, saying he would support any Republican nominee against Hilllary Clinton.

With the growing likelihood of a brokered convention, lots of ink and pixels has been spilled on what might happen if there isn't a first ballot winner in Cleveland.

With the March 15 slate of Republican primaries in the books, 29 of the 50 states have now voted. Donald Trump, the leader, not only hasn't won half of the votes to date (and hasn't even won half of the votes in a single state), but he hasn't even won three-eighths of them. Rather, Trump has won 37…

With Marco Rubio dropping out tonight, you’re going to hear a lot of theorizing about why he lost. It was the Gang of Eight. It was Trump. It was the anger. It was the out-of-touch elites. None of this is correct.

Marco Rubio ended his campaign for president after election results showed him a distant second in his home state of Florida Tuesday, slipping the announcement into a concession speech that reflected on his White House bid, assessed the tone of American politics, and advocated a robust conservatism.

Marco Rubio warned Monday that there will be a "reckoning" in the conservative movement for those backing Donald Trump.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is accusing Donald Trump of "literally inciting violence among his supporters." Sanders made the comment in a town hall with NBC's Chuck Todd.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with senior writer John McCormack on Thursday's CNN GOP Debate.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with editor William Kristol on the state of the 2016 GOP race leading into Florida and Ohio.

A Super PAC backing Ted Cruz is trying to KO Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida, releasing a torrent of ads ahead of the state's March 15 primary that attack the candidate from any and all angles.

This past Tuesday, Bill Kristol showed how it is in the self-interest of Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich to focus their efforts strategically to maximize the chances of Rubio winning Florida and Kasich winning Ohio, thus denying Trump the delegates from these winner-take-all primaries on…

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting in Saturday’s four GOP presidential contests, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were separated by only 234 votes (out of a total of 622,579 cast), as Trump got 230,443 votes to Cruz's 230,209. The candidates' respective percentages of the vote on "Super Saturday"…

In theory, Ted Cruz’s best states are behind him. But at the Detroit debate, Cruz was clearly the class of the field and it's clear that no one should count him out as the delegate race moves into its next phase.

With Super Tuesday now behind us, 15 of the 50 states have voted. If this were the Indianapolis 500, only 150 of the 500 miles would now be completed. Donald Trump has won won a plurality of the vote in 10 of the first 15 states—while Ted Cruz has won a plurality in 4 and Marco Rubio in 1—but the…

Over the next two weeks, the non-Donald Trump candidates (except for Ben Carson) will stay in the race. That's fine. And the good news (if you're in the anti-Trump camp) is that all they have to do is pursue their enlightened self-interest, and that their interests pretty much coincide.

As Super Tuesday wound down with Donald Trump posting a strong night, Marco Rubio stated that "no one" is going to call on him to back the New York businessman.

Not long after the polls closed in many Super Tuesday states, the narrative was already being cast: Marco Rubio was the night’s big loser. Several members of the media promoted it. So did the GOP frontrunner himself, Donald Trump, who spent several minutes of his election night press conference…

There’s a classic scene in First Blood where John Rambo declares, "Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off!"

A new ad from a super PAC backing Marco Rubio expresses stupefaction that Donald Trump is a serious presidential candidate, following the New York businessman's KKK blunder.

Purcellville, Va.

On Friday morning, George Stephanopoulos asked Marco Rubio if his good debate performace was "too little, too late."

Conservative TV and radio host Glenn Beck has endorsed Ted Cruz. He’s appeared at rallies for Cruz and spoken passionately about the need to elect a constitutional conservative like the Texas senator. He's suggested electing either Hillary Clinton or Marco Rubio would inspire a "violent…

Over the course of the last 48 hours, the Rubio campaign pulled one of the great head-fakes in recent political history by telegraphing that they weren’t at all interested in attacking Donald Trump at tonight's debate.

Marco Rubio turned a familiar line of attack against Donald Trump at Thursday night's GOP debate, tripping the Republican frontrunner for repeating the same detail about his health care platform and passing it off as his plan in full.

In his indispensible newsletter, the Transom, Ben Domenech makes a profound observation about tonight’s debate: The best way to become the "Not Trump," is to beat Trump. And the way to beat him isn't to argue that he's a meanie or detail his ideological inconsistencies. It's to go full-alpha and…

A new poll of likely Virginia Republican primary voters shows Donald Trump with a 14-point lead over his closest competitor, Florida senator Marco Rubio. In the Monmouth University poll, Trump has support from 41 percent of those surveyed, with Rubio earning 27 percent support.

The latest Marco Rubio email ad borrows the siren from the Drudge Report to ask supporters for money. The siren, Drudge's breaking news gif, appears three times in the email.

The notion of Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee, once widely thought to be an impossibility, is now widely being described—in respectable circles, nonetheless—as a near-inevitability. Generally sensible and level-headed people are starting to concoct all sorts of crazy plans to…

Last night at Ted Cruz's election night party in Nevada, following the news that he placed third there, his well known surrogate Glenn Beck assured supporters that Cruz is "not a liar."

One of the (many) oddities of the 2016 Republican race is how perverted our language has become in categorizing the candidates. Marco Rubio is the "establishment" candidate. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are "anti-establishment." Neither of these definitions really fits what's going on.

Presidential candidate Marco Rubio responded sternly Tuesday to President Obama's latest overture to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility.

Arizona senator Jeff Flake has endorsed his Senate colleague Marco Rubio for president, the Rubio campaign announced Monday.

As Donald Trump tries to notch his third win in a row in Tuesday's Nevada caucuses, his two chief challengers for the Republican nomination appear to be more concerned with fighting it out for second place.

There seem to me to be two dominant scenarios for what happens next in the Republican presidential race. For now I'll just sketch them out, in the interest of stimulating thought and commentary rather than asserting a conclusion.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio need a pep talk from Herm Edwards: “You play to win the game. You play to win the game."

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will endorse Marco Rubio for president. The Post and Courier reports:

In the South Carolina Republican debate, Ted Cruz said of fellow Republican senator Marco Rubio, “Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office." Rubio replied, "I don't know how he knows what I said on…

The latest survey of likely GOP primary voters in Virginia from polling firm Overtime Politics gives Trump a 14-point lead over Rubio, 33 percent to 19 percent. John Kasich comes in third place at 14 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 12 percent and Jeb Bush and Ben Carson at 8 percent each.

Texas senator Ted Cruz put his opposition to the president's pending Supreme Court nominee in the starkest terms yet, saying he would filibuster any name the White House submitted.

Had Marco Rubio performed a week ago in the New Hampshire debate as he did Saturday night in South Carolina, the Florida senator might have vanquished his non-Trump, non-Cruz rivals for good. Seven days after having the worst debate performances of his presidential campaign, and even less time…

Nashua, N.H.

No, not Saturday night’s debate: This is Marco's moment.

Londonderry, N.H.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with editor William Kristol on Rubio's debate performance, Hillary's chances, and the mood in the Granite State.

Back in November, the New York Times reported that Right to Rise, the super PAC that Jeb Bush established, had produced a video casting Marco Rubio as "ultimately unelectable because of his hard-line stand against abortion."

New Jersey governor Chris Christie went after Florida senator Marco Rubio in Saturday's Republican debate:

On Thursday, New Jersey governor Chris Christie attacked Florida senator Marco Rubio from the left on the issue of abortion.

Portsmouth, N.H.

Ted Cruz put on a show when he won the Iowa caucuses. The impression was that of a rookie football player dancing in the end zone after scoring a touchdown. In the NFL, teammates stop an exuberant player from celebrating too long and being penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. The stage at his…

Des Moines, Iowa

If Jeb Bush badly loses in New Hampshire to Marco Rubio, the former Floriday governor "is toast." At least, that's what one high level Bush supporter, Lindsey Graham, said today in New Hampshire.

Rush Limbaugh said on his show Tuesday that Sen. Marco Rubio is a genuine member of the conservative movement, and that he doesn't care for him being labeled an establishment candidate. (Fellow radio host Michael Savage isn't going to like this.)

By finishing third in last night’s Iowa caucuses, Marco Rubio joined Donald Trump and Ted Cruz as a candidate with a realistic chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination. Rubio pulled himself out of the pack of long-shot candidates and sure losers in the large GOP field – by itself,…

Donald Trump has owned the polls, scientific or otherwise: polls about debate performance, polls measuring support in primary states, even "entrance" polls of Iowa caucus goers before they cast a vote Monday night. But Trump fell short in the nation's first primary state, with Texas senator Ted…

Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio need a last-minute charge to compete in Monday's Iowa Republican Caucus. Recent precedent shows that Cruz could overtake Donald Trump to capture first place. Rubio would need an historic surge to win — but he could at least be in the mix by making up ground similar…

Des Moines

Watching the Republican debate tonight, I couldn't help but think,

With Donald Trump skipping the debate to consort with Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum (because he cares so very much about veterans), Ted Cruz had a golden opportunity to make a strong closing pitch to Iowa voters. He missed it.

The Frank Luntz focus group, which aired on Fox News after tonight's debate, called Marco Rubio the winner of the Republican debate.

The Republican presidential primaries have been chaotic thus far. And the chaos could continue.

There's one Republican candidate clearly ahead in New Hampshire, according to a new poll. And there are a lot of them slugging it out for second.

With very little warning, the Republican primaries began in earnest at the Charleston debate on January 14, closing out a year of fundraising and polite jockeying. What had once been a field of 17 declared candidates—with 8 or 10 of them being serious, substantive contenders—was, by the end of the…

A confession: I didn't wake up at 4:00 am here in Israel in order to watch last night's Republican presidential debate. A further confession: I can't say I regret that decision. But it does mean my judgment of the debate, which follows, is based on reading the transcript rather than watching and…

The Charleston debate may have been more consequential than it looked at first glance. For starters, neither Jeb Bush nor John Kasich nor Ben Carson registered. (Except for Bush’s bizarre decision to make his most impassioned argument of the campaign in service of the rights of Muslim citizens from…

The Republicans are back onstage in a debate that presents some interesting strategic opportunities.

CNN's Dana Bash asked Marco Rubio whether Ted Cruz is eligible to be president of the United States. Cruz, of course, was born in Canada to an American mother.

Earlier today in Saraosta, Florida, Marco Rubio gave a speech to supporters outlining his views on economic policy, and contrasting himself with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with staff writer Jay Cost on the upcoming primaries and who among the remaining candidates has a real shot at the nomination.

Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, defended presidential candidate Ted Cruz at a rally last night in Alabama:

With just over a month until the Iowa caucuses, the Republican nomination field is taking clearer form. Of the original 17 candidates, only 4 can be said to remain in top contention: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Ben Carson.

Tuesday's debate wasn't boring, exactly. There was a good deal of substance and some demolition derby, too. Also, there was some real news toward the end when Trump doubled down on staying in the Republican party and not running a third-party candidacy if someone else is the nominee. But I don't…

Open warfare has broken out between the respective presidential campaigns of Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio for Florida, just 24 hours after the Republican senators traded barbs and debated their records in Las Vegas.

Some passing observations on the Republican debate in Las Vegas:

If there was one moment of Tuesday's GOP debate that has the most potential to alter the race, it had to be the heated exchange between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz over immigration.

Donald Trump may have been at the middle of the lineup during the Republican debate, but it was Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio—and their debate over national security, foreign policy, and immigration—who took center stage. The two Cuban-American, first term senators sparred in some of tensest…

Ted Cruz is not Rand Paul.

Texas senator Ted Cruz kicked off Thursday's Republican Jewish Coalition presidential forum in Washington with a speech filled with applause lines that revved up the crowd.

Another candidate is getting into the Marco Rubio-Ted Cruz feud over the NSA metadata program. Chris Christie was asked about Ted Cruz's vote to abolish the program in an interview this morning on MSNBC.

How unusual is this year's GOP presidential race?

A new poll of Iowa Republicans shows Texas senator Ted Cruz moving into a close second to Donald Trump in the race for the presidential nomination. The Quinnipiac poll of 600 likely GOP caucusgoers found 25 support Trump while 23 percent support Cruz.

The fight between GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio continues to heat up. Cruz set things off last week with a direct hit against Rubio over the latter’s support for the Gang of 8 immigration plan, an attack that the Rubio camp seemed ready for. This week, their debate has moved…

Sioux City, Iowa

Why is it so hard to figure out what Ted Cruz actually believes should be done about illegal immigration? When the Texas senator, through the help of radio host Laura Ingraham, zeroed in on Marco Rubio's involvement drafting and supporting the Gang of 8's comprehensive immigration reform plan in…

There were a few weird moments at the debate last night, but none was stranger than the crowd reaction when John Kasich and Jeb Bush were talking about immigration. Both were unapologetically pro-amnesty. Neither bothered to make concessions about how problematic the breakdown of the rule of law is…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer John McCormack on the Fox Business Network debate last night, and the performances by Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz

Maybe he is the Republican Obama after all. Like the outgoing president, Florida senator Marco Rubio is charismatic, self-assured, and intelligent, as his performance in Tuesday night’s debate displayed. Alas, also like the president, Senator Rubio harbors an anti-intellectual streak, one that is…

At last, a debate that lived up to its billing. The Fox Business Network promised this would be about economic policy, and not about fantasy football, or personalities, and its panelists delivered. Despite an occasional barb, including a neat put-down of Donald Trump by Carly Fiorina, we actually…

Tuesday night’s fourth Republican primary debate, held in Milwaukee, did little to change the dynamics of the presidential race.

During Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate, Marco Rubio articulated his disagreements with increasing the minimum wage, and explained his alternative ideas. 

The Marco Rubio campaign is predicting the Florida senator will deliver a knockout punch to former Florida governor Jeb Bush in Tuesday night's debate, according to one reporter at the Fox Business Network. Charles Gasparino said he's hearing confidence from the Rubio camp.

The New York Times reports that the "cash-rich group aiding Jeb Bush’s White House run has filmed a provocative video casting his rival Marco Rubio as ultimately unelectable because of his hard-line stand against abortion." 

The super PAC supporting former Florida governor Jeb Bush for president told the New York Times that it plans on using its resources to hit Florida senator Marco Rubio over his pro-life record as well as missed votes in the Senate. The Times reported Tuesday that Right to Rise, which has raised…

Reports indicate that Jeb Bush may ramp up his attacks on Marco Rubio in the coming days. So Rubio is responding by releasing a video of Bush praising him. 

At some point, the most obvious explanation is rope-a-dope. 

The leading Republican presidential candidate in donor and establishment support is down to just four percent of the vote in a new national poll. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, is in a far fifth place in the latest Quinnipiac poll, getting four percent and trailing Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio,…

New Jersey governor Chris Christie came out swinging against his rival for the GOP presidential nomination Marco Rubio Tuesday. In a Tuesday interview with radio host Laura Ingraham, Christie responded to Rubio's claim that the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program…

Last week, the New York Times rolled out a petty and somewhat meanspirited editiorial against Chris Christie and the rest of the Republican field. The gist of it is that, by running for president, Christie isn't spending as much time at home working for New Jersey as he ought to:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer John McCormack on the Bush / Rubio battle royale and whether a waning Bush candidacy can take life.

In January 2011, we at TWS had the notion that it would be good to defeat President Obama in 2012. And so in a blog post we asked the sensible question: " Wouldn't it be easier just to agree now on a Ryan-Rubio ticket, and save everyone an awful lot of time, effort, and money over the next year and…

A former top aide to Marco Rubio has come out in support of Jeb Bush, according to a report published at floridapolitics.com.

This morning, Washington Post fact checker Glen Kessler decided to fact check Marco Rubio's statement at the latest GOP debate that Hillary Clinton lied about al Qaeda's involvement in the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi. In public, Clinton initially attributed the attack to spontaneous…

Charlie Rose defended Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in an interview this morning with Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. Rose seemed after Rubio said Clinton lied about the Benghazi terror attack. 

What were they thinking?  I’m referring to the CNBC questioners in last night’s Republican presidential debate.  They started the 2-hour session by asking Donald Trump if he was conducting “a comic book version” of a campaign? Mike Huckabee was asked to rate Trump’s “moral authority” to be…

Boulder, Colo.

In a post debate interview with CNN, Jeb Bush was obviously frustrated (though he denied it):

Tonight’s debate showed that the GOP field is smaller than it looks. Technically, there are still fourteen people running, but the winnowing is far along. We probably have a final six and possibly a final four.

Earlier tonight moderator John Harwood, of CNBC and the New York Times, attacked Senator Marco Rubio's tax plan on the grounds that it disproportionately benefited the top one percent of earners. Rubio insisted the premise of his question was wrong, but Harwood stuck to his guns. Here's the…

The Bush hit on Rubio was obviously premeditated, so it wasn’t gaffe or a mistake. It was a revealing measure of his political talent and judgment. Let’s count the ways in which it was strategically ill-conceived and tactically incompetent:

A new national poll of Republican primary voters finds retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson in the lead, overtaking reality TV star and New York businessman Donald Trump. The CBS News/New York Times poll found 26 percent of Republican primary voters polled support Carson, while 22 percent support Trump.…

As the sun starts setting on a crisp fall evening, Marco Rubio takes the stage in the backyard of a former editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader for a classic New Hampshire campaign event, a house party. “I love this weather,” Rubio says. “It doesn’t make you sweat.” Rubio flashes a smile, and…

Marco Rubio is standing up for Israel after a series of Palestinian terror attacks targeting Jews in Israel. 

Jeb Bush is qualifying some recent criticism of fellow Floridian and GOP rival Marco Rubio. Last week the former Florida governor said that the young senator does not have the “skills to fix things” as president. (See update below.)

Manchester, N.H.

The fallout from Scott Walker's exit from the presidential race continues in Iowa, which had been the Wisconsin governor's stronghold. The Des Moines Register's Jennifer Jacobs reports that Texas senator Ted Cruz has gained the support of three of Walker's county chairs:

Four members of Scott Walker's Iowa campaign are now aligning with Marco Rubio. With the Wisconsin governor exiting the presidential race Monday, the Walker campaign's network of activist supporters in the early primary states are free to endorse other candidates.

Florida senator Marco Rubio has picked up the support of a South Carolina Republican activist who had previously supported Scott Walker.

A new CNN poll of the registered Republican and Republican-leaning voters finds Carly Fiorina taking second place in the GOP presidential primary, behind Donald Trump and just one point ahead of Ben Carson. The poll, taken over the course of the three days following CNN's September 16 debate, found…

We heard today from an experienced campaign hand whose judgment we at TWS have come very much to respect:

While their fireworks have earned Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump the most attention after Wednesday night’s Republican debate in California, the winner for the most detailed and substantive performance may go to Marco Rubio. 

This was a debate I thought would never end. It lasted for three hours and seemed like longer. We even learned from each of the eleven Republican presidential candidates whose face should be on the $10 bill. No blood was spilled, metaphorically speaking. There were no losers.

Senator Marco Rubio explained foreign policy in Russia and Syria concisely during Wednesday's Republican Debate. Putin is "trying to replace us as the single most important power broker in the Middle East and this president is allowing it." Watch the full clip here: 

New polls of likely Republican voters in two early primary states show Donald Trump maintaining a solid lead for the presidential nomination. The CBS News/YouGov tracking polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire show the real-estate magnate and reality TV star with big leads in those states.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, came out swinging against several of the Republican candidates for president in a Thursday breakfast with reporters. The Florida congresswoman reserved most of her fire for her fellow Sunshine Staters, calling Marco Rubio a…

The results of the latest straw poll of WEEKLY STANDARD readers are in. It's not a scientific poll, of course—but since the respondents are very perceptive WEEKLY STANDARD readers, I'm going to claim (why not?) that the results are a suggestive leading indicator of where the GOP race may be going.

A few people have asked me to elaborate on the thought I tried hurriedly to express at the end of the This Week roundtable. Here it is: Republicans have a problem, while Democrats have a crisis.

A new Monmouth poll of registered or leaning Republican primary voters nationally finds New York businessman Donald Trump continuing to lead in the crowded GOP field. Trump's support is at 30 percent, 4 points higher than he was in Monmouth's August poll and 17 points higher than in its July poll.

Hillary Clinton compared Republican views on federal funding for abortion and elective contraception to the views of terrorists. Speaking in Cleveland Thursday, Clinton criticized Republicans who want to limit federal funding for abortions as wanting to deny "access to health care."

A new poll of "usual" Republican primary voters in New Hampshire gives Donald Trump his biggest lead yet in the Granite State. The Public Policy Polling survey found Trump with 35 percent support, a good 26-point advantage over the next closest GOP candidate, Ohio governor John Kasich at 11…

If this was meant to be entertainment, all 10 Flying Wallendas refused to walk the high wire, none of the clowns got out of the tiny car, and the elephants just stood around relieving themselves.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the topic of higher education at a Shelby County Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon. Joe Arnold, political editor for WHAS-TV, tweeted some quotes from McConnell during the event.