Marco Rubio Quotes
I am as conservative as anyone running in this [president's] race, but I am a conservative that can win. That's a big deal.
Rubio, Marco. "Campaign Town Hall." 2 Feb. 2016, Exeter, NH.
Since the early 20th century, conservatives have nominated candidates who were ideologically pure but so extreme that they offended too much of the electorate to get elected. Buckley advocated weeding these candidates out, His principle became very material in the early 21st century when the conservative fundamentalist Tea Party unseated strong conservative incumbents in primary elections in favor over more extreme conservative candidates who could not win general elections.
Marco Antonio Rubio is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Florida. A Republican, he previously served as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Rubio unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2016, winning presidential primaries in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.