Bush Allies Threaten Wave of Harsh Attacks on Rubio, an Ex-Mentee

By MAGGIE HABERMAN and MICHAEL BARBARO NOV. 9, 20



Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida at La Casa de Esperanza, a community organization and school in Waukesha, Wis., on Monday.CreditMichael Appleton for The New York Times


The cash-rich group aiding Jeb Bush’s White House run has filmed a provocative video casting his rival Marco Rubio as ultimately unelectable because of his hard-line stand against abortion.

That group, which has raised more than $100 million, has asked voters in New Hampshire how they feel about Mr. Rubio’s skipping important votes in the Senate.

And the group’s chief strategist has boasted of his willingness to spend as much as $20 million to damage Mr. Rubio’s reputation and halt his sudden ascent in the polls, according to three people told of the claim.

Seething with anger and alarmed over Mr. Rubio’s rise, aides to Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, and his allies are privately threatening a wave of scathing attacks on his former protégé in the coming weeks, in a sign of just how anxious they have become about the state of Mr. Bush’s candidacy.

Their looming problem: In trying to undercut Mr. Rubio as unaccomplished and unprepared, Mr. Bush is a flawed messenger. Over the years he has repeatedly, and sometimes lavishly, praised the younger lawmaker, often on camera.



Senator Marco Rubio of Florida at Rivier University in Nashua, N.H., on Wednesday.CreditIan Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for The New York Times

In one of many such tributes, Mr. Bush declared in a 2012 television interview that Mr. Rubio had “the intellectual acumen and the fortitude to be a good president.”

Whether or not the onslaught ever materializes, Mr. Rubio and his team are bracing for it and preparing to counter it by sifting through hours of video footage for instances in which Mr. Bush spoke about Mr. Rubio as an admiring ally, not a political foe.

They are also telegraphing a warning that has already reached many of Mr. Bush’s donors: Such an assault, they argue, would be beneath the dignity of the Bush name.

And Mr. Bush should focus on resurrecting his own candidacy, they say, not on trying to tear down Mr. Rubio, who they contend represents the future of the Republican Party.

Some Bush donors, campaign aides and Republican operatives are cautioning Mr. Bush and his staff about the dangers of seeking to wound Mr. Rubio, whose career he assiduously nurtured for years when Mr. Bush was governor and Mr. Rubio was a member of the Florida House of Representatives.

“Given their closeness while governing, I find the whole thing baffling,” said Stuart Stevens, a Republican strategist who oversaw Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign.

“I seem not to be alone,” Mr. Stevens added. “I don’t see any evidence that it’s working.”

Some supporters of Mr. Bush are publicly urging restraint. “At the end of the day, wisdom dictates that an internecine fight between the two is unnecessary, and potentially damaging to both,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a New York financier and Bush fund-raiser.




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Mr. Rubio’s campaign sees a potential benefit: Attacks by Mr. Bush and his allies could engender sympathy for Mr. Rubio, as occurred when Charlie Crist, his Republican rival in the 2010 Senate primary, was perceived as overly hostile to Mr. Rubio.

Those involved in the Bush camp’s discussions about whether to assail Mr. Rubio said that no firm plan or timeline was in place and that their focus could shift to different rivals in the coming weeks.

But the preoccupation with Mr. Rubio is revealing, suggesting not just fury at his challenge to a former mentor, but also a conviction that rivals like Donald J. Trump and Ben Carson have no chance of winning and will collapse in time for Mr. Bush to rise again. Mr. Rubio, the Bush team expects, will remain standing.

For many of Mr. Bush’s longest-serving advisers, Mr. Rubio’s run is a betrayal: Mr. Bush backed Mr. Rubio’s bid for House speaker in Florida and persuaded important donors to endorse him for the Senate. A few of Mr. Bush’s supporters have taken to calling Mr. Rubio “Judas.”

In meetings with donors and allies, Mr. Bush’s top aides have pointed to what they describe as a trove of research on Mr. Rubio that they could unleash.

Any attacks on Mr. Rubio would come primarily from Right to Rise, the “super PAC” that has raised more than $100 million for Mr. Bush. Its top strategist, Mike Murphy, refused to detail its strategy but did not dispute that Mr. Rubio was in its sights.

“Part of running for president is you have to put your big boy pants on and get vetted on the issues, so we know we don’t have a dud candidate running against Hillary Clinton,” he said.

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Asked about the multiple videos of Mr. Bush praising Mr. Rubio over the years, Mr. Murphy said of Mr. Rubio: “We all supported him for the Senate. We all support him staying there, because he is far from proving he is ready and experienced enough to be president of the United States in a dangerous time.”

Mr. Murphy’s critique echoed an internal Bush campaign memo outlining Mr. Rubio’s vulnerabilities. Under the headline “Marco is a risky bet,” the memo, which surfaced on Oct. 29, said Mr. Rubio “has never been in charge of anything larger than two dozen people.”

The preparatory work by Right to Rise was described by three people privy to it who insisted on anonymity to preserve their relationships with the group and with the Bush campaign.

Right to Rise held focus groups in New Hampshire shortly after the Oct. 28 Republican debate, in which, among other things, the participants were quizzed about Mr. Rubio’s missed votes on two Republican priorities: cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which carries out abortions, and blocking President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran. The responses suggested that both could provide potent lines of attack.

In an attempt to blunt Mr. Rubio’s appeal and showcase a potential vulnerability against the Democratic nominee in the general election, Mr. Murphy recently showed some Republicans a video portraying Mr. Rubio as too extreme on abortion. A longtime opponent of abortion rights, Mr. Rubio said in a debate in August that he had “never advocated” laws that would allow abortions, even in cases of rape or incest.

Mr. Murphy has privately said to several people that Right to Rise would be ready to devote up to $20 million to fighting Mr. Rubio, according to several people told of the conversations. Asked about the figure, Mr. Murphy declined to comment.

Aides to Mr. Bush, meanwhile, have grown weary of conflicting advice about how to deal with Mr. Rubio. After the Oct. 28 debate, in which Mr. Bush criticized Mr. Rubio for missing votes, Mr. Bush’s top adviser, Sally Bradshaw, archly noted on a conference call that the very donors accusing Mr. Bush of being too aggressive had previously encouraged Mr. Bush to go after Mr. Rubio.

Many of Mr. Bush’s supporters are eager for political combat.

“I think it’s fair game to point out Marco’s record, or lack thereof,” said Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., a Republican state senator in New Jersey who is raising money for Mr. Bush.

“It’s not below the belt.”

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