ATLANTIC, Iowa (AP) – A steady debate performance may have helped keep Jeb Bush’s campaign afloat.
But if Bush was good in Tuesday night’s prime-time face off, rival Marco Rubio was probably better.
In Iowa on Wednesday, a confident Rubio worked to sustain his progress while Bush tested his latest message in the same state. He shifted his attention away from Republican rivals and toward Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Rubio again cast the election as a “generational choice,” implicitly contrasting his youth with the political dynasties of older competitors – Bush and Clinton.
Bush won an endorsement from Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and Republican presidential candidate. The endorsement brought a highly respected establishment figure into Bush’s camp, although one who, at age 92, illustrates the generational change Rubio is talking about.