Thread: Here come the Rubio endorsements: Senator Pat Toomey, Santorum endorses Rubio

Here come the Rubio endorsements: Another senator, Pat Toomey, signs on; Update: Santorum endorses Rubio

POSTED AT 6:51 PM ON FEBRUARY 3, 2016
BY ALLAHPUNDIT

Not as important as Tim Scott’s support since Toomey’s not from an early state, but still significant big-picture.

This isn’t just a case of Cruz losing out to Rubio on another endorsement among his Senate colleagues, it’s a litmus test of electability — or perceived electability.

Why might a Republican from a purple state, whose seat is up this year by the way, prefer Rubio to Cruz or Trump? Hmmm:

The rollouts are designed to generate momentum for Rubio, who finished strongly in the Iowa caucuses and is hoping for a similar showing in New Hampshire. The Florida senator hopes to unify the Republican establishment around him and cut off avenues of support for his competitors in the mainstream lane of the GOP primary — Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. Many in the party hierarchy would like to soon coalesce around one candidate and halt insurgents Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Toomey, a swing-state Republican and former president of the anti-tax Club for Growth, is facing a competitive reelection bid in 2016. Those close to the Pennsylvania senator say he’s deeply concerned about who represents the top of the ticket for the GOP.

It’s fine to argue that Rubio isn’t really more electable than Cruz, especially given how impressive Cruz’s Iowa organization was, but a guy whose political career depends on gauging who’ll win more votes in Pennsylvania this fall is betting that he is. Worth noting.

The other significance of the Toomey announcement is that it comes just 24 hours after Scott’s announcement, suggesting that Team Marco has a string of big names lined up that it’ll roll out day by day before New Hampshire. Who’s next? Kelly Ayotte seems a sure bet to prefer Rubio — she’s hawkish, moderate, a Gang of Eight supporter, and, like Toomey, comes from a purple state — but she announced yesterday that she won’t endorse in the primary. It may be that her home state of New Hampshire is so influential in picking the nominee that she feared Cruz and Trump fans would take revenge on her in her own election this fall if she jumped in on Rubio’s side. If not Ayotte, though, then who? Rubio would love to complement Tim Scott’s tea-party cred with Mike Lee’s, but Lee is also a frequent Cruz ally and might not want to choose between them. Tom Cotton, another vocal hawk, seems like a good fit for Rubio and may feel free to endorse now that Huckabee’s out of the race and he doesn’t need to worry about offending Arkansas voters. Ben Sasse would be a nice get too, although Sasse was just in Iowa campaigning with Rubio and Cruz to stop Trump. I doubt he’d want to dilute his anti-Trump message by choosing between them so soon.

What about ol’ Mav? McCain said a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t endorse in the primary, although the opportunity to knife Cruz and Donald “He’s a hero because he got captured” Trump at this point might be irresistible. Then again, like Ayotte, McCain is up for reelection this year and doesn’t want to alienate Cruz fans in Arizona more than he already has. McCain’s pal Lindsey Graham is already committed to Jeb Bush, but here’s an interesting quote from today’s NYT story about Bush’s tribulations in New Hampshire:

Specifically, many Republicans — including some of his supporters and donors — said Tuesday that Mr. Bush must finish ahead of Mr. Rubio in the primary here on Tuesday to justify continuing his campaign into South Carolina.

“If Rubio beats him badly in New Hampshire, Jeb is toast,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, a Bush backer who spent most of Tuesday traveling the state with him. Mr. Graham added that Mr. Bush must either “tie Rubio or beat him” in this state.

That’s way off-message from the rest of Team Bush, which (momentarily) is insisting that they’ve got plenty of dough to go on to South Carolina and beyond. The whole value of Graham’s endorsement, in fact, is that he has some pull in South Carolina; if Graham’s now telling Jeb to hit the bricks before SC votes if he can’t beat Rubio in New Hampshire, presumably it means Graham is open to consolidating behind Rubio soon to stop Cruz and Trump. And he wouldn’t be the only Bush supporter who is.

All we’re looking at here is Senate endorsements, though.

Could be that Rubio is ready to roll out Nikki Haley or Scott Walker, who talked openly about forming a ticket with Rubio back when he was still in the race last year.

And of course there’s always the chance that Mitt Romney will decide that he has no choice but to knife Christie and Jeb Bush by diving in on Rubio’s behalf to help center-right voters consolidate as quickly as possible now. If Rubio’s building to something before Tuesday, that’s who I’d bet on — Walker or Romney, both friends of Chris Christie but both astute enough to know that Christie’s going nowhere at this point, no matter how many times he calls Rubio “the boy in the bubble.” Although a Twitter pal asks a good question: If Rubio had Walker in the bag, wouldn’t he have rolled him out before Iowa, Walker’s strongest early state?
For your viewing pleasure, here’s Jeb Bush in his final days as a candidate asking an audience in New Hampshire to clap.

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/0...omey-signs-on/

Don't understand how santorum can go from hard line immigration enforcement & then back rubio. Toomey might not get re-elected - he did vote no funds on a few immigration bills.

Endorsements for the Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marco Rubio

Main article: Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016

Background: Marco Rubio (born in 1971) is a U.S. Senator from Florida (2010–present). He was raised in Florida (and Nevada). He was a Florida lawyer (1996–9 before entering politics.

U.S. Governors (former)
Robert List, Nevada (former)[519]
George Pataki, New York (former); 2016 presidential candidate[520]
George Allen, Virginia (former Virginia Governor and Senator)[521]
Scott McCallum, Wisconsin (former)[522]

U.S. Senators (current and former)
Arizona: Jon Kyl (former)[523]
Arkansas: Tim Hutchinson (former)[524]
Colorado: Cory Gardner[525]
Idaho: Jim Risch[526]
Montana: Steve Daines[527]
Oklahoma: Jim Inhofe[528]
Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey[529], Rick Santorum (former); former 2016 Presidential Candidate.[530]
South Carolina: Tim Scott[531]
Texas: Phil Gramm (former)[532]

U.S. Representatives (current and former)
Arkansas: Rick Crawford[533] and Steve Womack[533]
California: Doug LaMalfa,[534] and Darrell Issa[535]
Colorado: Mike Coffman[536]
Florida: Tom Rooney[3]
Georgia: Austin Scott[537]
Illinois: Darin LaHood[538]
Indiana: Todd Rokita,[539] Larry Bucshon[540] and Chris Chocola(former)[541]
Kansas: Mike Pompeo[542]
Kentucky: Anne Northup (former)[543]
Michigan: John Moolenaar,[544] and Bill Huizenga[545]
Missouri: Jason T. Smith[546]
North Carolina: Robert Pittenger, Robin Hayes (former)[547]
Oklahoma: Markwayne Mullin[548]
Pennsylvania: Glenn Thompson
South Carolina: Trey Gowdy[549]
South Dakota: Kristi Noem[542]
Tennessee: Zach Wamp (former).[550]
Utah: (Whole House Delegation) Chris Stewart,[551] Mia Love[552] Rob Bishop,[553] and Jason Chaffetz[554]
Virginia: Scott Rigell[555] and Barbara Comstock[556]
Washington: Jaime Herrera Beutler[557]
Wisconsin: Sean Duffy[558]

U.S. Ambassadors (former)
Skip Vallee, former Ambassador to Slovakia (2005–2007)[559]
Victor Ashe, former Ambassador to Poland (2004–2009) and former Bushsupporter[560]

Republican National Committee members (former)
Bill Armistead, chair of Alabama GOP (2011–2015)[561]
Jerry Labriola Jr., chair of Connecticut GOP (2011–2015).[562][563]
Robert Maginn, chair of Massachusetts GOP (2011–2013)[564]
Arnie Hederman, chairman of the Mississippi GOP (2011–2012)[565]
Ferrell Blount, former NCGOP chairman[547]
Stan Lockhart, former Utah GOP chair[551]

Statewide officials
Arizona: Mark Brnovich (AG of AZ)[566]
Arkansas: Gregory Bledsoe (Arkansas Surgeon General),[567] Tim Griffin(LG of AR)[533]
Florida: Carlos López-Cantera (LG of FL)[568]
Idaho: Brandon D. Woolf (Contr. of ID)[569]
Two from Nevada: Mark Hutchison (LG of NV),[570] Lorraine Hunt (formerLG of NV).[571]
New Hampshire: Peter Heed (former AG of NH)[572]
Ohio: Josh Mandel (Treas. of OH).[573]
Utah: Spencer Cox (LG of UT)[574]
Wisconsin: Margaret Farrow (former LG of WI)[522]

State legislators
Three Alabama State Senators: Clay Scofield,[575] Slade Blackwell,[575]Greg Albritton[575]
Thirteen Alabama State Representatives: Will Ainsworth,[561] Randall Shedd,[575] Danny Garrett,[575] David Faulkner,[575] Jack Williams,[575] Jim Patterson,[575] K. L. Brown,[575] Kyle South,[575] Mack Butler,[575] Matt Fridy,[575] Mike Jones, Jr.,[575] Nathaniel Ledbetter,[575] Lynn Greer[575]
Four Arkansas State Senators: Bart Hester,[576] Jim Hendren (Majority Leader),[577] Missy Irvin,[567] Jeremy Hutchinson[567]
Eight Arkansas State Representatives: Ken Bragg (Majority Leader),[567]Jim Dotson (Majority Whip),[567] Justin Boyd,[567] Lanny Fite,[567] Charlie Collins,[567] DeAnn Vaught,[567] Laurie Rushing,[567] Nate Bell[567]
Four California State Senators: Jim Nielsen,[578] Jeff Stone,[578] Andy Vidak,[578] Patricia Bates[578]
Two Members of the California State Assembly: Scott Wilk,[578] Kristin Olsen (former Minority Leader)[578]
Colorado State Senator: Josh Penry (former Minority Leader)[579]
Delaware State Senator: Gregory Lavelle (Minorty Whip)[580]
Eighteen Florida State Representatives: Adam Hasner (former Majority Leader),[581] Esteban Bovo (former),[582] Keith Perry,[582] Dane Eagle,[582]Lake Ray,[582] Ross Spano,[582] Debbie Mayfield,[582] Matt Caldwell,[582]Bryan Avila,[582] Jeanette Núñez,[582] Mike Miller,[582] Rene Plasencia,[582]Mike La Rosa,[582] Ray Pilon,[582] Scott Plakon,[582] Julio Gonzalez,[582]Danny Burgess,[568] Shawn Harrison[568]
Two Florida State Senators: Miguel Díaz de la Portilla,[583] René García[583]
Four Georgia State Senators: P.K. Martin IV,[584] Judson Hill,[585] Chuck Clay (former),[586] Rick Jeffares[587]
Twelve Georgia State Representatives: Geoff Duncan,[584] Chuck Efstration,[584] Buzz Brockway,[584] Trey Kelley,[584] Bert Reeves,[584] Matt Ramsey (House Majority Whip),[586] Bill Werkheiser,[586] Michael Ryan Caldwell,[586] Brian Strickland,[586] Mike Dudgeon,[586] Gerald Greene,[587]Howard Maxwell[587]
Illinois State Senator: Michael Connelly[588]
Indiana State Senator: Carlin Yoder[71]
Five Indiana State Representatives: Cindy Ziemke,[71] David Ober(Assistant Majority Leader),[589] David Ober,[589] Casey Cox,[589] Holli Sullivan[589]
Five Iowa State Senators: Rick Bertrand,[590] Jack Whitver.,[591] Dan Zumbach,[592] Tom Shipley,[592] Larry McKibben (former)[593]
Seven Iowa State Representatives: Bobby Kaufmann,[594] Brian Best,[595]John Wills,[596] Megan Jones,[597] Carmine Boal (former),[593] Dawn Pettengill,[598] Quentin Stanerson[599]
Kansas State Senator: Terry Bruce (Majority Leader)[600]
Kansas State Representative: Erin Davis[600]
Louisiana State Senator: Bodi White[601]
Maine State Representative: Kenneth Fredette (Minority Leader)[602]
Maryland State Delegate: Christian Miele[603]
Three Massachusetts State Senators: Richard J. Ross,[564] Vinny deMacedo,[564] Ryan Fattman[564]
Two Massachusetts State Representatives: Keiko Orrall,[564] Shawn Dooley[564]
Michigan State Senator: Kenneth Horn[604]
Four Michigan State Representatives: Joseph Graves,[604] Klint Kesto,[604]Kurt Heise,[604] Mike Callton[604]
Three Minnesota State Representatives: Jeff Johnson (former),[605] Marty Seifert (former Minority Leader),[606] Steve Sviggum (former Speaker)[606]
Missouri State Senator: Ron Richard (President)[607]
Fourteen Missouri State Representatives: Todd Richardson (House Speaker),[608] Mike Cierpiot,[609] Dan Shaul,[610] Caleb Rowden,[610]Shamed Dogan,[610] Donna Lichtenegger,[610] Rebecca Roeber,[610] Lyndall Fraker,[610] Tony Dugger,[610] Jason Chipman,[610] Jay Barnes,[610] Justin Alferman,[610] Elijah Haahr,[610] Caleb Jones[610]
Six Nevada State Senators: Patricia Farley,[611] Ben Kieckhefer,[612] Warren Hardy (former).,[613] Michael Roberson (Senate Majority Leader),[614] Joe Hardy (Senate President Pro Tempore),[615] Scott Hammond (Co-Majority Whip)[616]
Four Members of the Nevada Assembly: Erv Nelson,[617] Derek Armstrong,[618] Stephen Silberkraus,[619] Glenn E. Trowbridge[620]
Four New Hampshire State Senators: Regina Birdsell,[621] Jim Luther(former),[622] Jim Rausch (former),[623] David Currier (former)[624]
Six New Hampshire State Representatives: Alec Koromilas (former),[151]Pamela Price (former Majority Whip),[625] Dennis Green,[625] Brian Chirichiello,[625] Chris Nevins (former).[626] Phyllis Woods (former)[607]
New Mexico State Representative: Monica Youngblood[627]
New York State Senator: Phil Boyle[628]
Six Members of the New York Assembly: Nicole Malliotakis,[629] Marc W. Butler,[628] Andrew Garbarino,[628] Chad A. Lupinacci,[628] L. Dean Murray,[628] Anthony Palumbo[628]
Nine North Carolina State Representatives: Jason Saine,[630] Mike Hager(Majority Leader),[631] Paul Stam (Speaker Pro Tempore),[631] John R. Bell, IV (Majority Whip),[631] John R. Bradford III,[631] Rob Bryan,[631] Josh Dobson,[631] Pat McElraft,[631] Stephen M. Ross[631]
Three North Carolina State Senators: Andrew C. Brock,[630] Jim Davis,[631]Jeff Tarte[631]
Two North Dakota State Senators: Jonathan Casper,[607] Jessica K. Unruh[607]
Eleven Oklahoma State Senators: David Holt,[632] Kim David,[633] Eddie Fields,[633] Jack Fry,[633] A.J. Griffin,[633] Wayne Shaw,[633] Jason Smalley,[633] Roger Thompson,[633] Frank Simpson,[634] Larry Boggs, [635]Ervin Yen, [635]
Eight Oklahoma State Representatives: Josh Cockroft,[633] Randy Grau,[633]Katie Henke,[633] Terry O'Donnell,[633] Leslie Osborn,[633] Harold Wright,[633] Paul Wesselhoft,[634] Dan Kirby,[634]
Oregon State Representative: Shawn Lindsay (former)[636]
Two Pennsylvania State Senators: Ryan Aument,[637] Guy Reschenthaler[638]
Five Pennsylvania State Representatives: Mike Turzai (Speaker of the House),[639] Jim Christiana,[640] Stan Saylor,[638] Jesse Topper,[638] Jeff Haste (former)[638]
Two South Carolina State Representatives: Nathan Ballentine,[641] Neal Collins.[642]
South Dakota State Senator: Bob Gray (former President pro tempore)[643]
Five Tennessee State Representatives: Gerald McCormick (House Majority Leader),[644] Jeremy Faison,[644] Eddie Smith,[644] Dan Howell,[644] Ron Travis[644]
Three Tennessee State Senators: Brian Kelsey,[644] Jack Johnson,[644]Becky Duncan Massey[644]
Texas State Senator: Jon Lindsay (former)[645]
Seven Texas State Representatives: James Frank,[646] Larry Gonzales,[647]Jason Isaac,[645] Linda Harper-Brown (former),[647] Martha Wong(former),[647] Myra Crownover,[645] Peggy Hamric (former)[645]
Utah State Representative: Greg Hughes (Speaker of the House)[551]
Virginia State Senator: Bryce Reeves[648]
Eight Virginia State Delegates: Tim Hugo,[649] Kirk Cox (Majority Leader),[648] Kathy Byron,[648] Edward T. Scott,[648] Richard Anderson,[648]Jay Leftwich,[648] Michael Webert,[648] Jason Miyares (member-elect)[648]
Washington State Representative: Drew C. MacEwen[650]
Two West Virginia State Delegates: Danny Hamrick,[651] Daryl Cowles(Majority Leader)[652]
Twenty Wisconsin State Representatives: Robin Vos (Speaker of the House),[653] Jim Steineke (Majority Leader),[653] Tyler August (Speaker Pro Tempore),[653] John Nygren (Co-Chairman of Joint Finance Committee),[653]Scott Allen,[653] John Jagler,[653] Adam Jarchow,[653] Joel Kitchens,[653]Scott Krug,[653] Mike Kuglitsch,[653] Bob Kulp,[653] John Macco,[653] Dave Murphy,[653] Mike Rohrkaste,[653] Ken Skowronski,[653] David Steffen,[653]Paul Tittl,[653] Travis Tranel,[653] Tyler Vorpagel,[653] Jessie Rodriguez.[654]
Three Wisconsin State Senators: Leah Vukmir (Assistant Majority Leader),[655] Devin LeMahieu,[656] Van Wanggaard,[653]
Wyoming State Representative: Tim Stubson[657]

Mayors and other municipal leaders
Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego[578]
William Snyder, Martin County Sheriff[582]
Tomas Regalado, Mayor of Miami[582]
Ed Day, Rockland County Executive[628]
Tom Fetzer, former Mayor of Raleigh[547]
Orlando Sanchez, Harris County Treasurer[645]

Businesspeople
Wayne Berman, donor and fundraiser[658][659]
Norman Braman, former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, billionaire[107][660][661]
Larry Ellison, co-founder and former CEO of Oracle Corporation[662]
Jose 'Pepe' Fanjul, sugar industry[107]
Paul Singer, businessman, investor, billionaire[663]
Frank L. VanderSloot, entrepreneur, radio network owner, rancher[664]
John Rakolta, CEO of Walbridge[665]
Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel[666]
Art Pope, philanthropist and businessman[667]
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association[668]
Larry Nichols, chairman of Devon Energy[669]

Newspapers
The Des Moines Register[670]
Sioux City Journal[671]
The Eagle-Tribune[672]

Celebrities, commentators, and activists
Rick Harrison, pawnbroker, Pawn Stars on History[673]
Charles Krauthammer, columnist and Fox News contributor[674]
Chris Bravacos (strategist and bundler)[675]
Babyface, singer-songwriter[110]
Jenna Jameson, former pornographic actress[676]
Mark Teixeira, Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees[677]
Johnny Van Zant, lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd[110]
Anthony Ribustello, actor and Republican activist[628]
Bob Asher, Pennsylvania member of Republican National Committee[637]
Wayne Grudem, evangelical theologian, seminary professor, and author[678]
John Stephen, 2010 NH GOP gubernatorial nominee[679]
Michele Tafoya, sportscaster [680]
David Thul, Iraq War veteran and Republican activist[606]
Kurt Angle, professional wrestler[681]
Gary M. Polland, attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chairman[645]


^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endors...rimaries,_2016}

This was all "inevitable" as I posted earlier. Cruz so-called win in Iowa didn't turn the election towards him, it turned it towards Rubio. It's all Anti-Trump now by the Establishment, Open Borders, Free Trade. Same O, Same O.

Trump is going to have to hit them all hard.

Rick Santorum endorses Rubio? What a lying sack of crap! And here he worked so hard to convince everyone he was against amnesty for illegals and then he endorses Marco Rubio who is the main amnesty supporter still in the race.

W

Ted Cruz endorsements

Trump endorsements

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Rick Santorum endorses Rubio? What a lying sack of crap! And here he worked so hard to convince everyone he was against amnesty for illegals and then he endorses Marco Rubio who is the main amnesty supporter still in the race.

W

He duped us, the same as Cruz is doing. I hope people wake up soon. Cruz's money donors are all open borders, free traders.

Originally Posted by Judy

He duped us, the same as Cruz is doing. I hope people wake up soon. Cruz's money donors are all open borders, free traders.

Once and for all you need to understand that there are many ALIPAC members that support Ted Cruz. Enough of the constant attacks, please!