Marco Rubio, Amanda Rubio, Daniella Rubio
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arrives to speak followed by his daughters Amanda Rubio, 15, and Daniella Rubio, 13, at his primary night rally at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, N.H., on Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(Jacquelyn Martin)
After a disappointing fifth pace finish in the New Hampshire primary, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio blamed his poor performance in Saturday night's Republican debate.
"Our disappointment tonight is not on you, it's on me," Rubio told supporters, according to a transcript of his remarks. "I did not do well on Saturday night -- listen to this: that will never happen again."
Rubio had been in a strong position after last week's Iowa caucuses, where he came in third after Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump. But at Saturday night's debate, Rubio was attacked aggressively by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and often came off as robotic, repeating the same lines over and over again even after Christie criticized him for being scripted.
When New Hampshire voted, Rubio fell behind Cruz and Trump, as well as Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. That leaves a murky field for more moderate Republican voters, who Rubio, Kasich and Bush are all targeting.
Rubio said in his speech that he was "disappointed" with the results.
But he committed to going on to the upcoming races because, he said, "It's not about me, it's not about this campaign, it is about this election."
"We must win this election because if we don't win this election, we may lose our country," Rubio said. "If we don't win this election, my children and yours will not inherit the greatest nation in the history of the world, which is what our parents and our grandparents left for us. So tonight, we did not wind up where we wanted to be, but that does not change where we're going to wind up at the end of this process."
Rubio will travel to South Carolina Wednesday, which holds the next Republican primary on Feb. 20.