Two of Ted Cruz’s top backers say that it’s time for him to stop going after Marco Rubio — and that he should turn his attention to taking on Donald Trump instead.
“I think he should forget about Rubio completely and focus on Trump,” said Bob Vander Plaats, one of Cruz’s national co-chairs. “Rubio is just taking from Cruz. And so the more you give attention to Rubio, the more it dilutes your message. I would give a clear, consistent, conservative message that draws the distinction between the judgment and temperament of Donald Trump versus the judgment and temperament of Ted Cruz.”
Added Steve Deace, another influential Iowa-based backer of Cruz, “Last week, Trump debated the Pope and Islam, and we debated Rubio on videos, narratives and Photoshop. Nobody cares about that stuff.”
Cruz has spent weeks trying to prevent Marco Rubio from overtaking him in the polls, tearing into him over everything from immigration reform to running robocalls, as he has also tussled with Trump. But those efforts turned messy last week, as Rubio — along with Trump and Ben Carson — repeatedly described Cruz as a “liar,” a message reinforced with a slew of negative advertising that accused Cruz of engaging in “dirty tricks.”
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