Rubio: The Republicans’ electable dark horse

| Staff Writer

Every Monday before Super Tuesday on March 1, Forum will be running a profile of a leading presidential candidate. Last week, we met Jeb!—everyone’s favorite exclamation point. Today, we are taking a closer look at Marco Rubio, arguably the most attractive remaining potential nominee. The complete schedule is: Jeb Bush (Jan 25), Marco Rubio (Feb 1), Hillary Clinton (Feb 8), Donald Trump (Feb 15), Bernie Sanders (Feb 22) and Ted Cruz (Feb 29).

MARCO

Who is this guy?

In a year that features an unusual break from the traditional white-bread-mold of the party, Marco Rubio is the poster boy for the new look (i.e. not old, not white) Republicans. Rubio is the son of two immigrant parents (a touchy subject for the Republican party generally), has trouble paying his bills just like the rest of us and has never been the subject of a reality TV show. In the midst of serving his first term as a US Senator for Florida, Rubio is one of only three Latinos serving on Capitol Hill and, surprisingly, he isn’t as old as dust: only a spry 44 years old compared to the average of 62 years for both party’s candidates.

What does he care about?

For the most part a moderate Republican, Rubio can certainly pander to the Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys who just can’t stop staring with intense passion at a copy of the Second Amendment. On gay marriage, his views fall in line with fellow University of Florida alum Tim Tebow (i.e. not so hot about it). Although he claims his social views follow legal justification, it doesn’t seem to be the case. His campaign website clearly displays that he “believes that Roe v. Wade was not only morally wrong, but it was a poorly decided legal precedent and should be overturned.” His gun views are the same old rhetoric we hear from most politicians: “new gun laws will do nothing to deter criminals from obtaining firearms,” while “new restrictions will infringe on the rights of good, law-abiding Americans.” By the way, he wants to repeal Obamacare, surprise, surprise.

Why should we care about that?

You should care about Rubio, because, let’s face it: he actually has a chance at being the Republican nominee. No need to worry that he’s leaning to the right just in time for Iowa; that’s pretty normal. Rubio does seem like he might be trying to help us college students out or promising to do so to appease us. For one, he says he’s committed to reducing the “complexity of the federal financial aid application,” a reform which is desperately needed. And we only wish that we had Rubio fighting for us to bring Uber here even earlier. One of the focuses of his economic policy is to “boost the sharing economy,” limiting regulation and by proxy, preventing us from needing to use St. Louis cab companies that make walks back to campus a major headache.

I’m bored: tell me something funny about him.

Over the summer, while doing some early campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, Marco Rubio decided to play a nice, easy game of football with some supporters. A highly calculated move—what’s more American than football in the Midwest—Rubio literally could not lose. Then he went and did the absolute worse thing he could do: he hit a small child in the face. Yes, it was entirely the child’s fault for having worse hands than a soccer player, and, yes, the kid probably flopped a bit, but Marco Rubio is undeniably a hater of Iowan children. Always the politician, Rubio took the unfortunate incident and ran with it, making a spoof video titled “How to Get Revenge with a Football.” For a spectacular one minute and fifty-four seconds, Rubio fake throws footballs that are caught by various pundits, actors and Ben Carson.

Who would his vice president be?

Marco gave us a preview of possibly a historical Republican ticket, featuring, not just one, but two Latinos. Susana Martinez, the Republican governor of New Mexico, could be a welcome improvement from the last female Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. The only problem is that her campaign advisor might be the subject of a corruption investigation by the FBI. But Chris Christie has Bridgegate, and he’s still alive in the polls, so it’s probably fine. New Mexico doesn’t have that many electoral votes, but the two are what could be a demographic dream team for the Republicans.

What would their couple name be?

This was fairly hard to do, but the only sensible option was Susamarco Polo. Incorporating both of their names, while referencing the quests of Marco Polo in relation to their own quest of winning, is too good to pass up.

So will he win the nomination?

There’s a significant chance. He’s one of the few candidates who could beat Hillary Clinton in the general election, and he holds a strong lead over her with white women, independent voters, college-educated whites and seniors. With Rubio, Republicans will expand appeal to many demographic groups they’ve never really had a shot with before. It’d be illogical for the party to not support a candidate who can get the White House back.

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