Rubio's attacks wounded Trump and Rubio

Leon Wolf:
Marco Rubio’s campaign ended yesterday. He won’t acknowledge it and neither will his hardcore supporters for some days, but he is done. It was one thing when he was running more or less even with Cruz across the South, like he did on Super Tuesday, but Rubio has clearly lost his mojo, finishing behind Kasich in Maine and well behind Cruz in Kentucky and Louisiana. Rubio is running out of gas both metaphorically and physically. This is now a race between Cruz and Trump.

I say this as a guy who a couple weeks ago endorse Rubio as the best chance to beat Trump.

However, if I were Ted Cruz, I would be hoping that Marco Rubio does not drop out yet, at least not until after Thursday. Because the reason that Cruz was able to reach up and stun Donald Trump yesterday is that Rubio has picked apart Trump’s vanity and caused him to self-immolate in a way that no candidate has been able to either before or since. Rubio was able to expose Trump’s business record in a way that Cruz never was.

Moreover, Rubio’s insult comic routine exposed what an ugly, shallow, insincere man Trump is to an electorate that was almost ready to embrace him as inevitable.

Unfortunately, it also seems to have had the effect that it has destroyed Rubio’s chances at obtaining the nomination himself. Many voters who were horrified by Trump’s response were equally horrified by Rubio’s behavior that provoked it. In much the same way that Chris Christie exposed Rubio at a critical point in the campaign, only to see his own personal standing suffer as a result, Rubio has had the same thing happen to him with respect to Donald Trump.
...
I think Rubio's chances were already slipping away before he started the Trump attacks and they were an act of desperation by someone with nothing much to lose.  While some are still pushing for a Cruz Rubio ticket I am not sure he would add much at this point since it is unlikely that he can carry Florida at this point.

If this election were decided by endorsements Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio would be at the top of the ticket.  Even the few endorsements Trump has received were meaningless to voters this weekend.  At this point, Kasich looks like a stronger running mate for Cruz in a contest against the Democrats.

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