Fish Taco Rubio....

Rubio off to New Hampshire with wind at his back

The senator scores a solid third-place nearly matching Trump's second.

By Anna Palmer and Marc Caputo

Making a third-place Iowa finish sound like a victory, Marco Rubio moved one step closer to uniting the more establishment wing of the Republican Party on Monday night, setting up a clash with Ted Cruz in New Hampshire.

While the votes were still being counted, the Florida Republican beat his own team’s internal projections and almost surpassed one-time frontrunner Donald Trump, who appeared to finish second. And the surprisingly strong result validated his relatively low-key buildup to Iowa, offering the campaign a chance to beat expectations and build momentum for future states.

"This is the moment they said would never happen. For months, they told us we had no chance," Rubio said before a packed room at the downtown Des Moines Marriott. "But tonight, here in Iowa the people of this great state have sent a very clear message after seven years of Barack Obama we are not waiting any longer."

His third-place finish coupled with Cruz’s first-place prize now puts Republican establishment candidates including Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie under intense pressure to outperform in New Hampshire or get out of the race."They told me I needed to wait my turn," Rubio said in, a not-so-subtle jab at Bush.

"They told me we had no chance because my hair wasn't gray enough and my boots were too high. This is not a time for waiting,” Rubio said. “For everything that makes this nation great now hangs in the balance."

Though the night was undoubtedly a good one for Rubio, Cruz's victory also complicates his pathway to winning the GOP nomination. The campaign had hoped at one point that Trump would defeat Cruz in Iowa, killing off his candidacy, and helping to clear the playing field for Rubio.

But now Cruz heads into New Hampshire with more bragging rights — and delegates — than Rubio. And Trump remains a threat as well, even as Bush and the other establishment Republicans remain determined to deny Rubio a second or third-place finish in the first-in-the-nation primary.

Rubio senior advisor Todd Harris said that what Rubio will face in New Hampshire is "no different than what we just did here."

"New Hampshire is going to be a multi-car pileup, there is no question," Harris said. "But we are coming out of Iowa with a whole lot of wind at our backs and we surprised a lot of people in Iowa and we are going to surprise even more in New Hampshire."

Rubio’s team spent the past week trying to tamp down any talk that they would vie for the top two slots. But buoyed by their own internal polling, and the sudden decision by Cruz to attack Rubio plus the growing size and energy of his crowds, the campaign showed he had real momentum.

Unlike the better-funded Cruz, Rubio didn’t commit early to Iowa and didn’t have the mammoth ground game that the Texas senator used to pull off his victory. Instead, Rubio and his team stuck to his game plan: take the opportunities that are there and don’t peak too early. They said they knew that a large proportion of caucus-goers didn’t have their minds made and would be willing to back Rubio as long as they heard his message and believed he could win.

So, as Cruz started to tear into Rubio, Rubio and his team pivoted back to the positive. “Cruz went after us and tried to out-Trump Trump, so we decided to give a contrast — give people something to vote for and not against,” said one member of Rubio’s inner circle. “Marco is everyone’s second choice, so he just had to make the sale.”

The campaign also made sure to build an appearance of momentum by pushing a Twitter hashtag “MarcoMentum” that proved impossible to resist for television pundits and reporters who repeated it all weekend.

Rubio in recent days played up a number of polls showing that he generally matches up better against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Long a devout Christian conservative, Rubio also stepped up his religious references when asked at town halls about it and talked about his faith in personal terms that sounded more evangelical than Roman Catholic, his religion.

“You saw the polls tonight: We peeled a whole lot of votes off from people," said the Rubio confidant. "The polls showed the late-breakers broke overwhelmingly for Marco for a reason.”

And he targeted those towns where the campaign’s data analytics showed he had a great shot — something campaign hands referred to as his “Mayor of Ankeny Strategy.” Ultimately, Rubio’s showing was the result of the campaign’s not-so-secret weapon: The candidate himself.

Rubio performed best in Iowa’s urban counties and college towns: He won Polk County, home to Des Moines and the most populous of the state’s 99 counties, and suburban Dallas County. He easily won Story County, which includes Ames and Iowa State University. He won Scott County along the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa, including the city of Davenport.

Rubio also finished first in Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, and came in a close second in Black Hawk County, which includes the University of Northern Iowa.

“We’ve seen it for years: When people hear Marco, they like him,” a campaign hand said.

Now, he walks into New Hampshire with the wind at his back, fresh from this win and securing the widely coveted endorsement of Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate.

“Marco exceeded expectations tonight and the good news continues with Tim’s endorsement,” said Florida Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida, a Rubio co-chair in his home state. “Coupled with my friend Trey Gowdy, South Carolina is going to be exciting.”

He added: “As the field narrows, Marco is putting himself in position to win our nomination. And against Clinton or Sanders I am really optimistic that we will take the White House in November.”

Rubio's team wasted no time reminding donors about their "Iowa Analysis & New Hampshire Preview Call" Tuesday morning with deputy campaign manager Rich Beeson and New Hampshire Senior Advisor Jim Merrill.

Several donors and bundlers said they were relieved and excited that Rubio did this well because it will increase enthusiasm for major donors to write checks. Rubio’s finance team is also looking to pick off major donors from other campaigns, particularly Bush’s supporters who have become disaffected as the former Florida governor has continued to do poorly in the race.

Rubio raised nearly $14.2 million in the final three months of last year, more than doubling the amount it had brought in the prior financial reporting period. It was the largest amount his campaign has hauled in since announcing for president in April.

The strong Iowa finish comes as many of his volunteers and surrogates had headed to Kansas City and Minneapolis to beat the impending winter storm.“He will be leaving Iowa strong,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, a Rubio surrogate. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us but as you can see as the undecided broke toward Rubio tonight and we see that number that means good things going into the rest of the year.”