Rubio campaign ‘blasts’ Selweski over ballot-controversy blog

The blog West Michigan Politics published a post earlier this week that said the Marco Rubio campaign blasted me for my recent piece on Rubio’s ineffective and dishonest ballot-access efforts.

Yet, what West Michigan Politics posted was nothing more than additional talking points and misleading information from the Rubio camp.

For example, how does the campaign staff explain this: They claimed repeatedly that the Florida senator gained access to the Illinois presidential primary ballot through a frugal “volunteer” effort when in fact it flew in college kids, outsiders from Students for Rubio, all expenses paid, to narrowly win ballot access just before the Illinois deadline.

Here’s what Rubio spokesperson Caitlin Conant told West Michigan Politics:

"Marco is a next generation conservative who is inspiring all segments of the party, especially young people, to support him. Students for Rubio is an organic and important volunteer base that we are fortunate to have helping spread Marco's message, and in this case add to his grassroots momentum. Having students willing to travel to Illinois in January to volunteer to walk door-to-door to support Marco is in no way a negative by any stretch of the imagination."

SuperPAC is not a campaign organization

The Rubo campaign apparently also spewed this bit of disinformation:

“Students for Rubio is not officially affiliated with the campaign and is not a campaign organization. It started grassroots style on a college campus, and has grown since.”

In fact, Students for Rubio is a superPAC formed in May specifically to aid the senator and it is registered with the Federal Election Commission. However, it has not collected or spent any campaign contributions, according to its most recent FEC report (and contrary to what West Michigan Politics reported). 

As a result, the superPAC may have some explaining to do with regard to who paid for the airfare, hotel, meals and any other expenses for the college kids who spent part of their holiday break in Illinois.

Ending up last is good

The most egregious, if not laughable, point made by the Rubio campaign is that, by filing their final paperwork just an hour before the deadline, they were engaging in a shrewd strategy.

Here’s how West Michigan Politics reported the situation:

“WMP has learned campaigns apparently met the deadline strategically to be in the lottery for the last place (spot on the ballot).
“… The last-on-the-ballot lottery position is seen as a positive in Illinois, where they recently changed the law to make sure that all candidates who file between 4 and 5 p.m. have the same opportunity to be entered into that lottery. So to be eligible, you *must* wait until then.”

Brandon Hall, author of WMP blog posts, misunderstood my point: The Rubio camp’s ineptitude will force their candidate’s name to appear near the bottom of the list of 12 candidates. Those who filed promptly are listed near the top.

Hall was sold a bill of goods when Rubio’s people claimed that they strategically sought a spot at the bottom of the ballot, which is clearly viewed as a disadvantage.