Cruz scoffed at Rubio's strategy, saying: "They're trying to wait until March 15 to win a state." Trump suddenly had nice things to say about Bush, the candidate he had hammered so relentlessly when they were rivals. He noted that round offers victors a "winner-take-all" share of delegates rather a proportional share. Rubio, a Florida senator, highlighted the big delegate take available in the five-state round of voting on March 15, which includes his home state. The Texas senator said his path to victory calls for a strong showing on Super Tuesday, and that Texas was "clearly the crown jewel" of that day. "It is becoming clearer and clearer that we are the one campaign who can beat Donald Trump," Cruz told reporters before a campaign stop in rural Nevada. Cruz tried to brush right past his apparent third-place finish in South Carolina and instead hark back to his victory over Trump in leadoff Iowa. "We're getting big crowds everywhere we go," the Ohio governor insisted, listing Vermont, Massachusetts and Virginia as places he can shine.
He hinted it would be better to get that winnowing over with, saying, "the sooner we can coalesce, the better we're going to be as a party in general." Not so fast, Kasich countered. Rubio also suggested it was only a matter of time before John Kasich and Ben Carson folded as well. We see conservatives continuing to unite behind our campaign," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." With Bush gone from the race, Rubio was hoping to pick off past donors to the Bush campaign and looking to benefit as well from a cessation in the millions of dollars in negative ads run by the Bush campaign and its allies. Cruz, for his part, stressed his conservative bona fides and said he was the lone "strong conservative in this race who can win. Rubio avoided criticizing his GOP rivals, instead highlighting his efforts to help middle-class families.