Former NH Union Leader Editor Endorses Rubio

See this is good. I argued in an earlier piece today that Christie's endorsement by the NH Union Leader may not be so fortuitous.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/12/take-that-nate-silver.html

After all, if Rubio is the establishment's great hope then dividing the establishment vote in NH is counterproductive. In that sense,, while the endorsement is good news for Christie, it's potentially terrible news for Rubio-and the over all establishment if Rubio is their best hope of winning the overall primary.

Optimally the establishment would want to coalesce around one candidate ASAP. But instead the waters are being further muddied with the former editor of the paper who endorsed Christie going for Rubio.

"A former editorial page editor of The New Hampshire Union Leader is backing a different Republican presidential candidate than the one the paper endorsed Saturday."

"The influential newspaper backed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie last week in an editorial penned by publisher Joseph McQuaid. “He has prosecuted terrorists and dealt admirably with major disasters,” he said. “But the one reason he may be best-suited to lead during these times is because he tells it like it is and isn’t shy about it.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ex-new-hampshire-leader-marco-rubio-216429#ixzz3tNHmr1Um

He isn't shy about telling it like it isn't either like when he keeps repeating the lie that he started on 9/10 as Attorney General. 

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/12/chris-christies-foreign-policy-gravitas.html

But now Rubio picks up a big endorsement too:

"Union Leader alum Drew Cline, however, only sees one GOP candidate suited for the White House — and it isn’t Christie. “Among the impressive list of Republicans running to be that next leader, only Marco Rubio is prepared right now for this daunting challenge,” he wrote in an editorial published online late Thursday by his former employer. “No one else is ready to unite a divided Republican Party, heal an ailing country, and then guide that country though what are sure to be many tumultuous years ahead.”

"The New Jersey Star Ledger, which endorsed Christie in 2013 but has been critical of him since, also disagreed with the New Hampshire paper’s endorsement of the governor, decrying it on Tuesday. “The paper knows almost nothing about his record as governor,” editorial page director and columnist Tom Moran wrote, adding that there were no mentions of the George Washington Bridge closure or pension reform in the paper’s endorsement."

“This editorial confirms my worse [sic] fears about this presidential race,” he said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ex-new-hampshire-leader-marco-rubio-216429#ixzz3tNJIcfyO

So it's' time for Rubio-Christie smackdown.

"Earlier this week, Christie told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that Rubio is too inexperienced to be president. “The fact is that he’s a first-term senator who’s never had to make any significant decisions in his career,” the former federal prosecutor said. “And that’s not the kind of on-the-job training that we need for the White House.”

"Christie, with 6.3 percent support, trails front-runner Donald Trump (27 percent), Rubio (12 percent), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (10.8 percent), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (9.5 percent), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (8 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (7 percent) in RealClearPolitics’ average of New Hampshire surveys."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ex-new-hampshire-leader-marco-rubio-216429#ixzz3tNJwU9uV

Now Christie has dismissed Rubio as lacking depth. He kind of has a point.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/12/chris-christie-on-marco-rubio-theres-not-a-lot-of-depth-there.html

So maybe Rubio needs to train his sights on Christie. Let's have a real catfight gentleman. No rules, lots of eye scratching.

"Christie has made similar remarks in past interviews. Here's what Rubio told Fox News' Neil Cavutoabout one of them Thursday:

"When you run for president, all these candidates are going to look for what they need to say to convince you to vote for them instead of someone else," Rubio said. "I like Chris Christie. We get along well. I think he's a good guy. We agree on a lot of issues... With all due respect, I don't think there's anybody on that stage that has a better understanding or has shown better judgment on the issues confronting our country than I have."

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/12/chris-christie-on-marco-rubio-theres-not-a-lot-of-depth-there.html

Meanwhile Rubio has been hitting Cruz on terrorism and it's easy to see why.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-surveillance-vote-216428

I still am not sure Rubio has the better of the argument here. Rubio is acting like a NeoCon here. Cruz gets the better of the argument by pointing to Rubio's support for amnesty.

But Cruz has been surging and now is ahead in the latest PPP NH poll.

"TRUMP CONTINUES TO DOMINATE: The CNN poll finds that Trump continues to dominate among Republicans and GOP leaners nationally: He has 36 percent; Ted Cruz has 16 percent; Ben Carson has 14 percent; and Marco Rubio has 12 percent. Here is what has happened to Carson’s supporters:

"Cruz (up 12 points) and Trump (up 9 points) are the greatest beneficiaries of those declines. Rubio is also up slightly, gaining 4 points — an increase within the poll’s margin of sampling error — since the last CNN/ORC poll."

"Cruz is scooping up the largest share of Carson supporters, and Rubio is getting little of the spoils. This suggests the Cruz surge may be happening, and also that a Cruz-Rubio brawl to be the alternative to Trump is likely."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/12/04/morning-plum-sorry-lindsey-graham-republican-voters-want-mass-deportations/

My guess is that Cruz hitting Rubio as week on immigration 'trumps'-pun intended-Rubio hitting Cruz as soft on terror. Keep in mind that Trump is seen as the toughest but he's not a NeoCon.