Politico: Rubio's not-so-secret Super PAC

Marco Rubio’s struggling campaign has an enthusiastic new backer: Politico. The Beltway political publication on Tuesday ran a piece about how “Rubio surges back to electrify South Carolina,” and followed it up with a Wednesday piece about how Rubio is competing for evangelical voters. That story includes this gem:

“The whole premise of Cruz’s campaign is, he‘s the choice of evangelicals,” said a Rubio adviser granted anonymity to speak freely about the opening the campaign sees with conservative Christian voters. “The reality is, multiple candidates in this race have evangelical bona fides ... of all of them, Marco is the one I think has really stood out to people, maybe because they weren’t expecting him to be able to so powerfully and articulately describe his relationship with Jesus and how it impacts his life.”

Politico gave someone anonymity to say how Marco Rubio is blowing people away because of his relationship with Jesus? Campaign advisers now need anonymity to praise their candidates? No. No. No no no. This is ludicrous. What’s next—a Rubio campaign adviser granted anonymity to wax on about the candidate’s dreamy eyes and supple skin? 

The reality is that Rubio is polling in third after a fifth-place finish in New Hampshire upset his big “3-2-1” plan. Now he’s trying to repeat Iowa by spinning a third-place finish in South Carolina as a major victory. Politico seems to be saying loud and clear that it’s on board with whatever the Rubio camp needs in order to make him look like a winner.