Is Marco Rubio Starting To Move Up In Iowa?

HotAir.com:

Yesterday’s Monmouth poll, which had Rubio in third place with 16 percent, was newsy because those were his best numbers in any Iowa poll since early December. Smoking-gun proof that Rubio’s on the move as late-deciders get serious! Just one problem: 16 percent was actually a point less than what he polled in the last Monmouth survey. He’d actually declined slightly over the past seven weeks. Even good news comes with bad news for Rubio these days.

Until now:

That’s strikingly similar to Monmouth’s results, with Trump exactly seven points ahead of Cruz and Cruz exactly seven points ahead of Rubio. (In fact, the last poll of Iowa before these two also had Trump by seven over Cruz.) What’s different is the trend line for Rubio. Less than three weeks ago, the last time WSJ/NBC polled Iowa, he was at 13 percent. He’s climbed five points in that time. Trump, meanwhile, has climbed eight while Cruz has dropped three. That Trump’s support is increasing while Cruz’s has slipped a bit seems indisputable given the last few polls. What WSJ/NBC is suggesting here is that there may be another trend quietly happening — namely, Rubio building momentum as he campaigns intensively in Iowa over the final week. He’s going to go all-out to try to destroy Cruz tonight at the debate too, knowing that if he can damage Cruz enough to make Iowa a battle for second place between them rather than a battle for first between Trump and Cruz, Rubio will be exactly where he wants to be before New Hampshire. Instead of the young star who underperformed, he’ll be the “surprisingly strong” center-righty who suddenly looks primed for a long race with Trump and Cruz. It’s only one poll but it’s the best news Rubio fans have had in months.

Want more evidence that Rubio is threatening in Iowa? Well, at this point you’d think Cruz would be throwing everything he has at Trump to try to win the caucuses. But he isn’t. He just released a new ad in Iowa targeting — ta da — Marco Rubio:

Just as striking, Mr. Cruz’s campaign quietly began running an ad in Iowa Thursday targeting Mr. Rubio over his support of “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.

Showing images of Mr. Rubio standing with the so-called Gang of Eight senators who wrote the 2013 immigration overhaul, the spot features a clip from Rush Limbaugh explaining that the Florida senator was a part of that group while Mr. Cruz was not.

The ad, which Mr. Cruz’s campaign did not release to the media, also flashes a message on screen: “Rubio betrayed our trust.”

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