Rubio: I’m okay with Karl Rove’s new “Conservative Victory Project”

I want to say a couple things in fairness. Karl Rove was one of my earliest supporters even when I was thirty points down in the polls he wrote me a check, he told people he was supporting me, he helped me in my race and I was thirty or forty points down. That’s important for fairness to say that. Ultimately, when I was the nominee American Crossroads came in to Florida and spent a lot of money on my candidacy and we’re grateful for that. But by the same token, I would not have been elected without Tea Party support. I would not have had a chance to even win the Primary without all these folks out there who rallied to the cause of defending our Constitution, limiting government and supporting our traditional values and I’m forever grateful for that as well. They both have a place in American politics. I think the concern that people have is that somehow people in Washington in the Beltway are going to decide that someone can’t get elected. That’s the argument they used against me and I don’t believe that’s Karl Rove’s intention but I think the concern that people have is that people from Washington are going to come in and decided ‘so and so’ is unelectable, somebody else is more electable we have to go with them and I think that’s a valid concern. There have been some candidates that have been nominated that have not done well in the General Election stage. Perhaps we need to do a better job working through that to ensure that doesn’t happen in the future but I also think we have to be very careful that we’re not discouraging grassroots types candidates from running because often times they get elected and do a pretty good job.