Marco Rubio was optimistic Monday morning about his chances of winning the Iowa caucuses, and if that happens, he vowed to "unite the Republican Party, and we'll grow the conservative movement."
"I know I'll win," the Florida Republican and GOP presidential candidate told
ABC's "Good Morning America" program of his chances in the general election. "I believe Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders know that I'll win. So, I hope people tonight, when they go to their caucus site, they will consider caucusing for me because we can win."
But on
NBC's "Today" show, Rubio admitted that he's not the front-runner, and he doesn't think Donald Trump is either.
"Ted Cruz had 12,000 volunteers and spent time and money here," Rubio said. "He has a strong Iowa game so he's the front-runner... but we're fighting and working hard and growing in the support we have. I feel positive about it."
Cruz has been hitting Rubio strongly in his ads, and Rubio has complained that the Texas Republican senator has distorted his record.
"It's politics as usual, and that's the problem," said Rubio. "He literally took a video of me speaking about cap and trade and cut it off before I finished my statement to make it look like I supported it. It's unfortunate. We're going to fight through it."
But Rubio said he's spent little time analyzing potential outcomes in the race between Cruz and Donald Trump, who has been at the top of most polls in the state.
"I'm not a political analyst," he said. "I'm running for president of the United States. I spend my time thinking and communicating with voters about what I'm going to do when I'm president."
And as a candidate, he pointed out that he's not like Trump, who he called "an entertainer" and "funny."
"I think this country understands that if you're running to be president of the United States, you can't just tell people what you're going to do," said Rubio. "You have to explain how you're going to do it."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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