A.G. Gancarski
Marco Rubio may have finished third in Iowa. But as the Las Vegas Review Journal nod indicates, he won what the Miami Herald calls the Sheldon Adelson primary.
A sketchy process? Depends on who you ask. Most observers are skeptical. But don’t worry, the Review Journal’s process is A-OK. Or at least as A-OK as that of Israel Hayom, Adelson’s paper in that country, which also likes Rubio.
“The RJ met with Sen. Rubio on Oct. 9, two months before the announcement of the newspaper’s sale to the family of Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. The Adelsons have detached themselves from our endorsement process, and our endorsement of Sen. Rubio does not represent the support of the family.”
There’s the obligatory graf about Charlie Crist:
Recall the 2010 election, when he was voted into the Senate. The Republican establishment put all its weight behind Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, with the upstart Mr. Rubio considered a long shot at best, trailing by nearly 30 points early on. When Mr. Rubio — the former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives — surged in the polls, Gov. Crist dropped out of the Republican primary to run as an independent and assure himself a spot in the general election. It hardly mattered, as Mr. Rubio whipped Gov. Crist by nearly 20 points in a three-person race.
And then there’s the claim that “if you want an outsider, Marco Rubio’s your guy.”
The nod from Adelson, who backed Newt Gingrich in 2012, may have the anti-predictive quality of the Iowa GOP Caucus in terms of the final ballot.
It remains to be seen where Rubio stands on Adelson’s attempt to get public financing for an NFL stadium in Vegas.
