Can Marco Rubio Save the GOP in 2016? (Video)
The Republican presidential field looks unusually diverse this cycle — an African-American (Ben Carson), an Indian-American (Bobby Jindal), a woman (Carly Fiorina) and a Hispanic, or, if you prefer, a Cuban (Marco Rubio). One candidate is married to a Hispanic originally from Mexico (Jeb Bush).
There is even a Canadian in the field.
Oh, wait. That can’t be.
The Canadian actually is half Cuban (Ted Cruz), so that really makes one-and-a-half Cubans in the race.
For a political party that relies overwhelmingly on the votes of whites, that’s a pretty diverse group.
But most of the candidates frequently mentioned as being in the top tier in the Republican race — Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — are non-Hispanic white men. The lone exception is Rubio.
(Some observers also include Cruz and potentially Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich in the top tier. But Cruz’s style and ideological rigidity limit his ultimate appeal, both in the GOP and, more importantly, in November. Kasich is merely another white guy.)
With whites constituting a smaller percentage of the general-election electorate over the past two decades — from 85 percent of the electorate in 1988 to 77 percent in 2004, 72 percent in 2012and probably no more than 70 percent next year — and Republicans faring poorly with blacks, Latinos and even Asian-Americans, GOP strategists are looking to make the party more welcoming and appealing to minority voters.
Given his background, Rubio would seem to have a general-election appeal other top-tier hopefuls don’t have.
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