THE RUBIO PITCH – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  And it may be a winning argument.  One of the things you hear most about Marco Rubio is that he can actually win a general election against Hillary – Rubio, the young bilingual modern, versus Hillary, the aging princess of the 1960s.   Rubio has very low negatives, as opposed to Trump, whose negatives are HUGE.  Absolutely HUGE.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Marco Rubio’s closing message for supporters of the low-polling Republican presidential candidates: Pick me, because I’m going to win.

At his final campaign rally before Monday’s first-in-the nation caucuses here, Mr. Rubio pushed his hardest message of the day – arguing that he’s the party’s only candidate who can win the White House.

“Perhaps you came here tonight and had someone else in mind,” Mr. Rubio told an audience of about 300 in a ballroom at St. Ambrose University. “Maybe it’s someone whose campaign has not done as well as they’d hoped. They’re not going to win Iowa, not going to win the nomination. I would ask you, with all due respect, to consider switching. Because if I’m our nominee, we’re going to win.”

The Florida senator didn’t name who else his audience might have in mind, but he’s vying for the same breed of voter as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who have settled into fifth and ninth places in the polls, respectively.

Mr. Rubio hopes the electability argument is enough to propel him to the upper reaches of the caucus results Monday. Unlike front-runners Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, Mr. Rubio doesn’t need a victory to claim success. Third place, his team has said, is good enough. A second place finish by him could prove a damaging blow to Messrs. Cruz or Trump while at the same time offering crucial momentum for the Floridian as the campaign shifts to New Hampshire on Tuesday.

COMMENT:  The next three weeks will determine Rubio's fate.  I agree that he has a very strong "electability" argument in his favor.  He can defeat Hillary.  But he has not polled as high in the nomination race as I'd expected.  He's shown some real fire in the last week, and maybe that will help him move up tonight.

February 1, 2016