![Marco Rubio in Keep the Promise's new negative ad [YouTube screengrab]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2000px-Flag_of_Minnesota.svg_-e1451929461939.png "Marco Rubio in Keep the Promise's new negative ad [YouTube screengrab]")
A super PAC backing [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]’s presidential campaign launched a negative ad against [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] that accuses the candidate of being too distracted by fantasy football to lead the country.
The ad titled “Leadership,” uploaded to YouTube Monday morning and first shared with The Washington Post, tries to portray Rubio as a lightweight, unprepared to take on ISIS, Russia and other foreign policy challenges.
WATCH:
“The world is in need of leadership,” the ad opens. “ISIS plotting to kill Americans … America’s enemies advancing. What would Marco Rubio’s leadership look like?”
It then cuts to a brief clip of Rubio talking on the phone while looking at a computer.
“Yeah I know I have a debate, but I gotta get this fantasy football thing right. Okay?” Rubio says with a laugh.
“Tell Marco Rubio: America can’t afford to gamble with its safety,” the ad says. Cruz himself never appears during the 30-second spot.
The ad was produced by Keep The Promise, a coalition of super PACs that have combined to support Cruz. The new video is the organization’s first television ad. Keep the Promise 1 — the PAC which is providing the most funding for the ad campaign — told The Washington Post they are spending $750,000 to air the advertisement for two weeks in Iowa starting Tuesday.
Rubio and Cruz have emerged as the two strongest establishment Republicans in the 2016 race, and the new ad is intended to undercut Rubio’s support among more hawkish conservatives.
Ironically, the short clip of Rubio used in the ad is taken from one of the Rubio campaign’s own videos, a humorous one released in October prior to a GOP debate
WATCH:
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