Rubio seeks to seize on Murphy’s flaw

In Florida, Democrat Patrick Murphy tries to highlight hypocrisy, but Republican Marco Rubio has proved resilient  

Marco Rubio speaks in Kissimmee. 

As Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy squared off in the final debate of their Florida Senate race, the discussion turned to the Syrian civil war. Rubio, a former presidential candidate and member of the Senate intelligence committee, challenged his rival’s understanding of the factions on the ground. Murphy, a two-term congressman, reverted to a familiar line.
“It just goes back to the same point,” he said, “that Senator Rubio continues to support Donald Trump, and it is shameful that he stands there with him.”
The audience laughed, faintly, at one of nearly 20 mentions of the Republican presidential nominee during the one-hour debate. When Murphy next mentioned Trump, Rubio was quick with a rejoinder based on a famous Joe Biden rebuke of Rudy Giuliani : “A noun, a verb and Donald Trump: that’s his answer to everything.”
The race in Florida, among the most closely watched in the country, could help determine whether
Republicans keep control of the Senate. Democrats see the vote as a referendum on Trump. But Murphy’s mentions of the businessman underscored the potential limitations of using the top of the ticket to mount attacks down the ballot.
Murphy has questioned how Rubio can endorse Trump, whom Rubio has called “a con man”, untrustworthy with the nuclear codes, and “the most vulgar person ever to aspire to the presidency”. In recent weeks, polls have given the Democrat hope, in part because Trump is trailing Hillary Clinton in Florida by around three points. But with nine days left before Election Day, Rubio is about seven points up on Trump in the state.

‘Less than ideal choices’

This week, both candidates spoke to the Guardian. “I’ve said all along that these are less than ideal choices before us,” Rubio said, “and that’s why we need a senator willing to stand up to the next president no matter who it is – even if it’s from your own party.”
Rubio was speaking on the day the FBI director, James Comey, said the agency was reviewing emails that might be pertinent to the closed investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server while secretary of state.
“The question now is will Patrick Murphy still 100% trust Hillary Clinton, as he has said in the past,” he said.
Murphy, who spoke earlier in the week after appearing with Clinton at a rally in Coconut Creek, said there was no comparison between the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.
“I’m grateful that Senator Rubio’s connecting me to Secretary Clinton,” Murphy said. “You look at what she’s been fighting for her entire life, and you contrast that to Donald Trump. You talk about a contrast of both qualifications and temperament for who our next world leader is going to be.”
Citing Trump’s litany of inflammatory comments – against immigrants, Muslims, women, the Gold Star parents of an Iraq war hero, prisoners of war and more – Murphy said it was “appalling to a lot of Floridians that Marco Rubio continues to stand by Donald Trump’s side”.
“A lot of people had the courage to stand up to Donald Trump,” he added, noting the flurry of Republicans who withdrew their support earlier this month after a video was unearthed from 2005 in which the former reality TV star bragged about groping and kissing women without consent.
Rubio, despite condemning Trump’s comments, was not among them. His has kept Trump at a distance, however, making no campaign appearances with the nominee despite his frequent presence in Florida.



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