Reporting from Pensacola, Fla. — Sen. Marco Rubio is making a last stand in Florida that is as much about reigniting his once-hopeful presidential campaign as it is about burnishing his legacy after romping in the gutter with Donald Trump.
Acknowledging he is the underdog now in his home state, Rubio was downcast Saturday as he took stock of the fractured condition of the Republican Party — and of his role in the messy fissure.
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The violence that has erupted at Trump’s rallies left Rubio doubting his own resolve when asked the defining question for Republican leaders in the Trump era: Yes, he would still back the billionaire if he ended up the party’s nominee.
“Getting harder every day,” Rubio sighed at an early-morning campaign stop in the Tampa suburb of Largo. “I’m sad for this country.”
The ugly altercations between Trump supporters and protesters reached new levels at Friday’s Trump rallies but could provide Rubio a long-shot boost before voters go to the polls this week. His backers have often been late deciders who considered voting for the New York mogul only to have second thoughts.
A lofty appeal, as Rubio made Saturday while barnstorming the state, may be his best, last hope.
At an evening rally in Pensacola, Rubio branded Trump as a front-runner “who is going to Americans who are angry and who are frustrated and is telling them to get angrier and more frustrated. That is not conservatism.”
American political discourse should not consist of people “screaming, angry, calling each other names,” he said.
“That’s what they do in third-world countries,” he said.
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Donald Trump supporter Birgitt Peterson, center, of Yorkville, argues with protesters on March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion after the rally for the Republican presidential candidate was canceled.
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Donald Trump supporters and protesters clash March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion after the rally for the Republican presidential candidate was canceled.
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Donald Trump supporters and protesters clash March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion after the rally for the Republican presidential candidate was canceled.
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Protesters and Donald Trump supporters struggle outside the UIC Pavilion in Chicago after it was announced that the rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was canceled March 11, 2016.
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Protesters mock Donald Trump supporters who appeared stuck in the venue’s parking garage after the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign rally March 11, 2016, at UIC Pavilion was canceled because of security concerns.
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Protesters line up above the Eisenhower Expressway after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign stop at the UIC Pavilion was canceled because of security concerns March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Police remove an activist after it was announced that a rally with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the University of Illinois at Chicago was canceled.
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Police restrain a man after confrontations broke out between anti-Trump protesters and police in Chicago.
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Police try to control the crowd on the street after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign stop at University of Illinois-Chicago was canceled due to security concerns.
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The podium is empty after a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was cancelled.
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Protesters against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump chant after it was announced that a rally for Trump was canceled.
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Chicago police start to clear the crowd after a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was canceled on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago.
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Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, face off with protesters after a rally on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago was canceled.
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Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, face off with protesters .
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Protestors shout down a rally scheduled by Businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump forcing it’s cancellation out of concern for public safety at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion.
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A protester holds up a ripped Donald Trump sign before the start of a rally for the Republican presidential candidate at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Protesters wearing shirts reading “Muslims United Against Trump” are escorted out the UIC Pavilion in Chicago prior to the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 11, 2016.
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A demonstrator is removed by Chicago police during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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People wait for the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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People gather at the UIC Pavilion for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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A Donald Trump supporter moves a jacket upon getting settled in at the UIC Pavilion for a rally for the Republican presidential candidate March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Ed Landmichl, of Chicago’s South Side, waits for the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Donald Trump supporter Valerie Schmitt, of Naperville, gets settled before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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People wear socks adorned with the U.S. flag while attending a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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People wait for the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Marco Maltbia, of Chicago’s South Side, waits for the beginning of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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People arrive for a campaign rally at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Protestors march in Chicago on Friday, March 11, 2016, before a rally with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the University of Illinois-Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton) (Matt Marton / AP)
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Brian Wilkinson, 35, holds an American flag while Donald Trump supporters enter the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, prior to the Republican presidential candidate’s rally.
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Donald Trump supporters line up March 11, 2016, at the UIC Pavilion in advance of a political rally.
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Button vendors Lorie Levi, left, and Deanne Golembiewski sell Donald Trump for President buttons outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Jack Righeima, 15, left, and Andrew Alessia, 18, students from Aurora Central Catholic High School, play Trump the Game on March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
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June Pitts, center, of Oak Forest, waits in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016.
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Linda Slabaugh, of Romeoville, a nurse and attorney, attends a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 11, 2016, at the UIC Pavilion.
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epa05207005 Protestors shout down a rally scheduled by Businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump forcing it’s cancellation out of concern for public safety at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois, USA, 11 March 2016. Residents go to the polls to cast their votes in the Illinois primary on 15 March. EPA/TANNEN MAURY ** Usable by LA, CT and MoD ONLY ** (TANNEN MAURY / EPA)
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Robert Maricle, of Peoria, stands in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, for a rally with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Donald Trump supporter John Gora, of Chicago, proudly shows his T-shirt that reads “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Democrat” as he stands in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago for a rally with the Republican presidential candidate.
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Julie Contreras, from left; her daughter Ariana Aprim, 18; Salvador Contreras; and Gilberto Melchor-Sanchez hold a prayer vigil March 11, 2016, across the street from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. The group, representing the League of United Latin American Citizens, is holding the vigil in anticipation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign stop.
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Ariana Aprim, 18, with the League of United Latin American Citizens, shuts off electric lights at the site of a prayer vigil March 11, 2016, near the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
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A small shrine is placed at the site of a prayer vigil across the street from the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Julie Contreras, with the League of United Latin American Citizens, sets up a sign near a prayer vigil across the street from the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago. Activists assembled in anticipation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign stop in the evening.
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Kayla Utley, left, of Center Point, Iowa, holds a photograph of herself with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from a campaign stop as she stands in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago. With Utley are Trump supporters Giovanni Montalbano, center, of Park Ridge, and Travis Klinefelter, of Dubuque, Iowa.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) In a final bid before Tuesday’s primary, Rubio went on an apology tour of sorts this week, declaring regret for the trash talk he unleashed on Trump’s “spray tans” and “small hands,” not wanting to be remembered as the candidate who, in fighting Trump’s perceived bullying, interjected penis jokes to presidential politics.
Rubio often calls his home state the place “where it all began” — where his immigrant parents arrived from Cuba in his classic American son’s story — but now he faces tough odds in his bid to scoop up the winner-take-all state’s 99 delegates.
Trump leads in Florida polls, as he does nationally, though Rubio has narrowed the gap to single digits here in some recent polls. The state will become a proving ground for the “never Trump” effort as outside groups pour in resources to try to halt the celebrity businessman’s stride to the party nomination.
For his part, Rubio has not left the Sunshine State all week as he tries to replicate the come-from-behind win that sent the tea party favorite to the Senate in 2010.
He is particularly courting the young, suburban families — “Starbucks voters” — who have propelled his campaign, as well as the large Cuban American community, among whom he enjoys favorite-son status.
But it may be too little, too late. While Rubio has a built-in infrastructure in the state, and is well-known on Spanish-language media, his campaign suffers as it has elsewhere from its reliance on television appearances and made-for-TV rallies instead of the pavement-pounding hard work of turning out the vote.
An event for Rubio in the Miami suburb of Hialeah last week drew widespread notice for its small crowd. Photos of supporters huddled at the goal line in an otherwise empty football stadium did not instill confidence that Rubio could win.
On Saturday, though, he showed flashes of the retail-politics skills that could perhaps help him eke out additional votes, addressing an overflow crowd outside his Pensacola rally with a bullhorn, braving blustery winds and drizzly weather.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is ahead of Rubio in the national delegate count and has gained on him in Florida polls, is trying to block Rubio’s comeback so he can emerge to face Trump head-on in subsequent contests.
With the 99 delegates at stake here Tuesday, and an additional 66 in Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich is fighting a similar do-or-die home-state battle, victories by Trump could put him well
on the way to the nomination. The billionaire has more than 450 delegates of the 1,237 needed — almost 100 more than Cruz and three times as many as Rubio.
In a stunning acknowledgment of his own shortcomings Friday, Rubio signaled to Ohioans to vote not for him, but for Kasich, to stop Trump’s rise.
“The feeling is Rubio has kind of recovered, and that maybe he’s closed it up a little bit — but not nearly enough,” said one Republican strategist close to moneyed donors in the party, who called Rubio a “hurt guy.” “They just don’t have a strong operation.”
Twitter: @lisamascaro
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