The Los Angeles Times suggested incorrectly Tuesday that Marco Rubio had not won an endorsement from a single Florida newspaper, and was compelled later to correct itself when the editors realized he had.
“Marco Rubio can’t even win the backing of a newspaper in his home state of Florida,” the paper declared in its headline.
Four Florida newspapers, the Pensacola News Journal, the Miami Herald, the Tampa Tribune and the Orlando Sentinel, have endorsed Rubio.
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The Times updated its story several hours later to reflect that the Miami Herald and the Orlando Sentinel have thrown their support behind Rubio, but the editor’s note made no mention of the other two endorsements.
The flub by the L.A.-based newspaper comes after the Sun-Sentinel editorial board announced this month that it would not endorse anyone in the 2016 GOP primary, including Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and casino tycoon Donald Trump.
“If you’re angry, like so many voters are, vote for Trump,” the board wrote. “If you want to send a message to the Republican establishment and the Washington elite … knock yourself out.”
They continued, referring specifically to why they could not support the Florida senator’s candidacy.
“Because Rubio has failed to do his job as a senator, broken the promises he made to Floridians and backed away from his lone signature piece of legislation on immigration, we cannot endorse him for president,” they wrote.
The Sun-Sentinel’s assessment of Rubio as a presidential candidate stands in sharp contrast to what the Miami Herald and the Orlando Sentinel had to say.
“Forget about a brokered convention or a ‘stop Trump’ movement. The nominee should be the candidate who wins the hearts and votes of Republican rank-and-file members, not someone the ‘establishment’ anoints. The only way the nominee can win in November is by unifying the GOP and appealing to Democrats and independents,” the Herald’s editorial board said this month.
“The best candidate to fill that role is Sen. Marco Rubio,” they added.
The Sentinel had praise for the senator, though it was a more tempered than the Herald’s.
“We recommend Florida Republicans cast their ballots for another Sunshine State leader, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Unlike Trump, Rubio has the knowledge and judgment to be president,” they wrote.
“We don’t see eye to eye with Rubio on plenty of issues; his hardline opposition to abortion rights is just one example. But for Florida Republicans who are leery of Trump yet impatient for change, Rubio is now the best hope in the party’s 2016 field,” they added.
