Nervous donors

Rubio reassures nervous donors his strategy is on track

By Alex Isenstadt

Marco Rubio is seeking to reassure donors amid mounting questions about his campaign schedule and political organization.

On a Tuesday afternoon call with national contributors, the Florida senator outlined his campaign trail activity and pushed back on the recent media narrative that he’s running a passive campaign, according to two participants on the call.

At one point, Anna Rogers, Rubio’s top finance aide, who was acting as a moderator on the call, asked him about the scrutiny.

“I'm amused at those stories,” Rubio said, according to notes provided by one of the participant. “We said at the outset that this campaign was going to be about ideas and our message so we don’t spend much time talking about process or strategy.”

“Just because we aren’t telling the media our strategy doesn’t mean we’re not organized,” he added.

Rubio went on to detail his recent schedule, pointing out that over the past week he had visited all four early states. He noted that he was in New York City last week for a fundraiser that netted $1 million for his campaign.

He also revealed that he now had about 100 full-time staffers, most of whom, he said, are conducting voter contact. And he mentioned his upcoming swing through Iowa, a three-day bus tour with seven events across the state.

“You don't accomplish all that without a very good organization,” he said.

The conference call came at the end of the fourth fundraising quarter and had been scheduled to give donors a year-end update on the state of the campaign. Rubio, who spent the early part of the week campaigning in New Hampshire, fielded questions on a variety of topics in addition to the media narrative about his supposedly lackadaisical campaign.

The senator also told donors that he intended to keep up his criticisms of rival Ted Cruz, with whom he has been sparring recently over national security and immigration. Rubio, who has cast Cruz as not quite as ardent a foe of legalization as he says, said he would continue to portray the Texas senator as politically inconsistent.