Something about Marco Rubio really does excite the traditional media to no end. Because we just keep seeing stories like this one from CNN, in which third place means "victory." Seriously, the headline says "Another 3rd place victory."
Just like Iowa, Rubio wants a third place finish in South Carolina to be perceived as a big win.
The logic is that once Rubio can knock the other establishment candidates out of the GOP primary by putting enough distance between them, their support will coalesce behind him and finally push him ahead of front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz -- as long as he can stay close enough to them in the delegate count.
The campaign is exuding a quiet confidence amid standing-room-only crowds across the Palmetto State, especially after snagging arguably the highest-profile endorsements up for grabs in the state, Haley, Scott and Gowdy.
He wants third place to be perceived as a win, so the traditional media is happy to repeat everything the campaign tells them and go along with it. Victory! CNN seems to want to join the competition, Politico, to see who can be more fawning.
But the latter wins, hands down with the platform they gave to the campaign to claim big momentum in . . . coming in third! They're also the outlet that declared he was "surg[ing] back to electrify South Carolina." They were also the place that granted anonymity to a Rubio campaign adviser so they could "speak freely about the opening the campaign sees with conservative Christian voters." Yep, anonymity to talk about how much Marco Rubio is connecting with voters because he loves Jesus.
Does all this talk about momentum and declaring victory by coming in third remind you of anything? Oh, yeah, him!
Joe Lieberman said Tuesday he is locked in a tight battle for third place in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary but doesn't need that strong a finish to declare victory.
Marco-mentum!!!!
