Rubio becomes target for Bush, Trump
Don't take the pundits' word for it that Marco Rubio is emerging as a major contender for the Republican presidential nomination.
Just listen to Jeb Bush and Donald Trump.
Republican opponents are going after the rising Rubio, mostly questioning the Florida senator's youth and relative lack of political experience.
Bush, a former Florida governor once regarded as Rubio's mentor, told MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday that "I have the leadership skills to fix things and that's my strength and that's what I talk about -- and Marco was a member of the (Florida) House of Representatives when I was governor and he followed my lead and I'm proud of that."
Like Rubio, President Obama was a first-term senator when he sought the White House, Bush said, and it turned out he didn't have the leadership skills necessary.
Obama "won an election based on the belief that people had that he could and he didn't even try," said Bush, the son and brother of previous presidents.
In a New Hampshire town hall on Wednesday, Bush also referred to Rubio's absenteeism in the Senate, saying "why is it that people miss votes in the United States Congress in such a rampant way?”
It should be noted that Bush has praised Rubio in the past, contrasting him favorably with Obama and recommending that 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney pick Rubio as his running mate.
Now a Bush-Rubio clash seems inevitable; the Florida primary figures to be a key contest in the 2016 Republican presidential race.
Trump, the leader of Republican polls that now show a spike in support for Rubio, has made similar criticisms of the 44-year-old Rubio.
The New York billionaire is also trying to deepen the wedge between Bush and Rubio, telling a crowd in New Hampshire: "They hate each other -- trust me. I know."
For his part, Rubio told NPR News of Trump: "I'm not interested in the back and forth to be a member or part of his freak show."
And while Rubio hasn't really counter-attacked Bush (yet), he did tell a group of GOP voters Monday that they should not “promote the next person in line or the most familiar name.”