Should Rubio continue on this path, in my view it’s simply because he was never able to recover from the fact that he is viewed as out of step with much of his party on the issue of immigration. Navigating the field with the drag of the Gang of Eight was always going to be difficult. (As recrimination pieces go, it’s funny which word doesn’t appear anywhere in this piece. Go ahead, search for it, I’ll wait.) His natural political abilities notwithstanding, this was the real reason he was poorly positioned from the start…

There is an opening here, however, for Rubio to get out in a manner that would cement his political future and potentially abound to his credit regardless of what happens in 2016. If he were to approach Cruz with the possibility of a unity ticket prior to Florida, he would avoid the ignominy of losing his home state while seeming magnanimous in putting party and country before his own ambitions.

Even if a Cruz-Rubio ticket (the Republican version of Gore-Clinton) went on to lose to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, he would have the goodwill from conservatives and moderates alike for such a stance, putting himself in a much better position for a gubernatorial run and likely the leading position for a 2020 nomination.