Rubio Cancels Scheduled Speech Five Minutes Before Event Start

Right before Rubio was set to take the stage, the spokeswoman for the Conservative Review said that Rubio’s team informed them that he would be late. They offered to adjust the schedule in order to accommodate Rubio so he could speak to those conservatives who were there, but Rubio did not show up at all.

Rubio’s campaign is attempting to argue it sent Gowdy and Scott and Jindal as surrogates to the event, but the rule from Conservative Review set months ago was that campaigns couldn’t send surrogates unless the candidate himself came.

By not showing up, Rubio left himself wide open for criticism, without the benefit of being present to defend one’s positions.  His rival candidates certainly took advantage of the Rubio vacuum.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, who criticized Rubio directly before Rubio was slated to speak, told Breitbart News that he made it clear to the conference crowd that Rubio betrayed his tea party roots during the Gang of 8 immigration debacle.

“I think originally I was going to speak between Marco Rubio and Carson. I said I’m supposed to go after Marco, and the guy said Marco needed to move until later so now he’s going on before Carson,” Gohmert said.

JEB’s campaign also capitalized on not having Rubio show, especially needing the help after Nikki Halley’s endorsement of Rubio.

The campaign manager of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is piling on, saying that Rubio’s decision to cut and run is proof he’s incapable of serving as a commander in chief. Bush, who sat down with Breitbart News’ Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle for an interview set to air on Friday morning on Breitbart News Daily with Stephen K. Bannon on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125, clearly has time for conservatives while Rubio does not.

South Carolina is known to be a late breaking state, with deciding who to vote for many times coming within moments of walking into the polling booth.  Not showing up to such a conservative heavy crowd will do Rubio harm.

Source: Breitbart