WASHINGTON – The rumors of the demise of Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential prospects in Iowa as a result of his role in crafting immigration reform are somewhat exaggerated, said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Thursday.
Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, a fierce opponent of immigration reform, has said that Rubio is toast in the Iowa caucuses, should he run for president in 2016. A number of Iowa conservatives expressed similar opinions to the Washington Examiner’s Byron York last month.
But Grassley said that in 2013, it was too early to make such predictions.
“It’s pretty hard for me to tell you three years out,” he said, speaking to the press just 40 minutes before the Senate was set to vote on the comprehensive immigration reform bill crafted by the bipartisan Gang of Eight, a group of which Rubio is a part. “It may influence some people right now, but right now is not 2016.”
“And I think people then are going to be looking at how can we win the White House,” he continued. “That’s going to be the most important thing.”