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Marco Rubio appears to be warming up to Donald Trump, saying Friday his “performance has improved significantly." Rubio has also continued to withold an endorsement of Ted Cruz, even though he previously praised him as the conservative in the race.

BURLINGAME, Calif. — Donald J. Trump got a taste on Friday of what his next month of campaigning in California could be like. He was forced to exit his motorcade and walk through a field, climbing an embankment with Secret Service agents helping him, to avoid angry demonstrators on the street. “We went under a fence and through a fence, and oh, boy, it felt like I was crossing the border, actually,” Mr. Trump said when he finally made it to a ballroom to speak at California’s Republican Party convention. For the next 25 minutes, though, Mr. Trump spoke little...

Who, with the benefit of hindsight, were your preferences for the GOP nomination, in order? And if you feel like adding it, whom did you #1 prefer in 2008 and 2012?

The scale of Donald Trump’s victory in New York turned him from frontrunner into presumptive Republican nominee. Trump is correct in asserting that a manipulated nomination defying the popular vote would be anathema to the Republican base. It would make Cleveland and the fall campaign chaotic and unmanageable. Second, Trump is probably going to win the nomination on the first ballot. Take a clear-eyed look at the numbers. After New York, Trump has 845 delegates. Cruz has 559, and Kasich has 147. So Trump is 139 delegates ahead of the other two combined. He is almost 300 delegates ahead of...

It’s clear who GOP voters want as their nominee. Senator Rubio said today he will endorse Donald Trump if he is the nominee. As Bill Mitchell suggested – This is not something he’d say if he’s going to endorse Ted Cruz.

GOP front-runner Donald Trump says he'd like to bring Florida Sen. Marco Rubio into his campaign as part of his effort to unify the party. Trump already has the support of two of his vanquished foes: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. "Frankly, Marco I'd love to have involved," Trump said Thursday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity." "This party has to unite," Trump said. "Then you're going to have the House and Senate." Rubio dropped out of the race after losing his home state of Florida, but has yet to endorse anyone. Trump also responded to...

A good catch by Mediaite from Cruz’s interview this morning with Chris Stigall, and de facto confirmation of what I wrote earlier about the frustration he seems to be feeling with Hannity (and Fox News writ large). To be clear, it’s Stigall who brings up O’Reilly and Hannity. Cruz doesn’t name them as hosts who are “in the tank for Trump” but he’s complained before about O’Reilly’s habit of defending Trump and his spokesman’s complained about Hannity pushing Trump’s talking points. And Cruz’s silence in not challenging Stigall about O’Reilly and Hannity is deafening. He pointedly omits them from his...

Marco Rubio won Minnesota decisively on March 1, but the 17 delegates he was awarded are now up for grabs, free to vote for any candidate they like on a first ballot at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. In a hotly contested Republican primary that looks increasingly likely to culminate in a contested convention this summer, those delegates will be critical. The battle for them is essentially throwing states such as Minnesota, which have already held their nominating contests, back into play as they elect delegates at state conventions. And Ted Cruz’s campaign, which has run circles around Donald...

Only 34 of the 172 delegates Rubio won in the primaries will be immediately up for grabs on the first ballot in Cleveland. That development is opening up a fierce competition to win these lapsed Rubio delegates, which are located in Oklahoma, Minnesota and Louisiana. "Our state rules say if someone is not on the ballot, they are free to vote for whomever they choose," said Oklahoma GOP chair Pam Pollard, "and I support that." "We have 12 bound delegates for Rubio," she told NBC News, "so if he is not on the ballot — those 12 delegates are free...

Wednesday at a town hall hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was asked about the potential of his former opponent Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) being a potential running mate, given that if Rubio made a deal that gave Cruz his delegates, it could push him over the top to the GOP nomination.

After making tepidly positive remarks about former GOP presidential rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) set the record straight on Wednesday: It wasn't an endorsement. "I'm not endorsing in this race right now. I don't have any announcement to make, I was just answering the question," Rubio told reporters. Rubio was referring to a Tuesday interview with conservative radio host Mark Levin where he said he wants a conservative in the White House and Cruz is the only candidate left standing that fits his criteria.

On tonight's episode of LevinTV Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Mark Levin in a wide ranging interview. The two touched on a host of topics, including Rubio's future political plans, his foreign policy vision, and who he thinks should be the president. When Levin asked Rubio who he would be supporting for the corner office, Rubio said that his delegates are bound on the first ballot. He added that on subsequent ballots, "I hope that they'll nominate a conservative." Rubio added, "the only one[presidential candidate] that fits that criteria is Ted Cruz."

“Yes. I like Marco Rubio. Yeah. I could,” Trump told columnist Kirsten Powers about putting Rubio in his administration. He was asked if Rubio was a potential vice president choice for him. “There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president. I just haven’t told anybody names. … I do like Marco. I do like [John] Kasich. … I like [Scott] Walker actually in a lot of ways. I hit him very hard. … But I’ve always liked him. There are people I like, but I don’t think they like me because I have hit them hard,”...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump listed a few of his fellow 2016 rivals as possible running mates in an interview published Monday. Speaking to columnist Kirsten Powers, Trump spoke favorably about Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) who he famously feuded with before defeating him in his home state.... “There are people I have in mind in terms of vice president. I just haven’t told anybody names,” he said. “[I] do like Marco. I do like (John) Kasich. … I like (Scott) Walker actually in a lot of ways. I hit him very hard. … But I’ve always liked him.”

Ted Cruz's and Marco Rubio's supporters have teamed up in Arkansas to pack the state delegation with individuals who'll turn against Donald Trump in a contested convention. Since Rubio ended his presidential bid March 15, his network of party insiders has lined up behind Cruz to win delegates who'd vote for the Texas senator once they're no longer bound to Trump in a floor fight. Trump won Arkansas' GOP primary March 1 with 32.8 percent of the vote compared to Cruz's 30.5 percent and Rubio's 24.9 percent. But Cruz's canny operatives, with Rubio riding shotgun, is likely to thwart Trump...

Sen. Marco Rubio has fought to take the delegates he won to the Republican National Convention in July, leaving him in a position to be a power broker or even, if everything falls into place, to make another run at the top of the party’s presidential ticket. Under current rules, he doesn’t qualify to be considered for the presidential nomination — only Donald Trump has clearly met the threshold so far — but if the party starts looking beyond the billionaire businessman, Mr. Rubio could be in line. “You can see absolutely how it could play out,” said Chris Bravacos,...

New York state representative Peter King is not one to hold his tongue on his true feelings about anything, so did you think the outspoken pol wasn’t gonna dig in on Ted Cruz today? Fuhgeddaboudit. During an appearance on The Joe Piscopo Show Thursday morning, Rep. King slammed the Texas Senator amid the controversies he’s facing in — and prior rhetoric about — New York. Just twelve days before the New York primary, Cruz is on major damage control on the campaign trail after a disastrous day in the Bronx saw Cruz getting booed, heckled, and become subject of a...

Friday on Fox New Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said if no candidate gets the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination by the Republican convention this summer than at a contested convention, the Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) delegates will come to him, not Donald Trump. Cruz said, “The only way to win the Republican nomination is to earn a majority of the delegates and that is what I believe we’re going to do, either in the states leading up to the convention, or if we get to the...

*This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison.Many folks thought Marco Rubio was the most talented politician since Ronald Reagan. He shares with the Gipper that sunny outlook that distinguishes Reagan conservatism from the bitter and ugly populism of a Trump. It should be clear in this dreary season, however, that Marco badly mishandled Trump. When he taunted Trump about the size of his hands, he descended into the sewer. It may have been necessary for Marco to mix it up with the Donald, but you cannot go into the sewer with him. Professional mud slingers always have a home field...

Marco Rubio’s campaign is dead. His secret-money legacy lives on. Nobody knows who funded the nonprofit group that spent more than $10 million on TV ads boosting Rubio, and untold more on mailers and research. And, unless those donors out themselves, nobody ever will. No presidential candidate fighting for their party’s nomination has ever benefited from as much undisclosed cash, and watchdogs worry the pro-Rubio group’s unchecked activity serves as a dangerous precedent that will soon become common practice. “It is now the model for a how a candidate can inject unlimited, secret, corrupting money into their campaigns to benefit...