Florida Sen. Marco Rubio,
six weeks ago (emphasis mine):
Praising Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli’s crusade against Obamacare in the courts, Marco Rubio said Monday that the outcome of the Virginia governor’s race will send an important message to the rest of the nation.
“This is a precursor for what’s going to happen in 2014 and what’s going to happen after that in 2016,” the Republican Florida senator told 500 donors who each paid $50 to attend a luncheon at the Marriott a few blocks from the state Capitol. “We can’t wait until 2016 to start the work. We’ve got to start now. We’ve got to start in Virginia.”
Rubio,
today (again, emphasis mine):
In an interview with CNN, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio downplayed Wednesday any national takeaways from GOP Gov. Chris Christie's crushing victory in the blue state of New Jersey and Republican Ken Cuccinelli's loss in Virginia, saying what happened in Tuesday's elections carry little implications for the future of the GOP.
"I think we need to understand that some of these races don't apply to future races. Every race is different–it has a different set of factors–but I congratulate (Christie) on his win," he told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
Yesterday was a double-whammy for Rubio: Not only did Ken Cuccinelli's loss make mince meat of his claim from six weeks ago that the outcome of the Virginia race would set the stage for Republican victories in 2014 and repealing Obamacare, but Chris Christie's big win in New Jersey has made him the favorite of establishment Republicans who had previously believed Rubio was their best bet in 2016. At the rate that Rubio's going, pretty soon the question won't be whether he actually is the GOP's best hope for retaking the White House—it will be whether he's the GOP's best hope for keeping his Senate seat red.