Whereas other candidates like Ted Cruz are more adept at preaching to the choir, hurling red meat, and channeling righteous indignation, Rubio is expert at selling a sunny brand of conservatism that one suspects might appeal to a more diverse and cosmopolitan America.

If politics is about addition and winning converts, Rubio is the obvious messenger. And the thing about a messenger is that he doesn’t even have to say what he represents.

Rubio embodies his message about the American Dream. During his stump speeches, he is prone to mentioning how is father emigrated from Cuba and worked long hours as a hotel bartender. “That journey,” Rubio avers, “from behind that bar to behind this podium is the essence of the American dream.” He’s not wrong. And, I suspect, that message would resonate with a lot of Americans who aren’t attending Young Republican meetings or Lincoln Day Dinners in Des Moines.