Rubio v. Jeb Bush: Early Strength for Marco

We have been following the battle between Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush to be the Florida-based Hispanic GOP candidate. Rubio has just scored a coup by hiring Jim Merrill, who directed Mitt Romney’s New Hampshire efforts in 2008 and 2012, to run Rubio’s campaign in the Northeast U.S. including New Hampshire, still home to the first-in-the-nation primary.

And in Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation caucus less than a year from now, Rubio is 13 points ahead of Bush in a poll of likely GOP caucus goers when asked if they consider either candidate “about right” (see chart below)--as opposed to “too moderate” (Bush 37%) or “too conservative.”  That’s good news for Rubio, but not for Bush.