Arizona Attorney General Joins Marco Rubio Campaign

Presidential candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has ridden a wave of pubic support after the most recent Republican primary debate, announced this week that he's tapping state Attorney General Mark Brnovich to head his ground campaign in Arizona.

Brnovich feels that ”Marco's positive vision for the 21st century will create jobs and opportunities for the next generation,” and he says he “[looks] forward to leading his team in Arizona,” the Arizona Republic reported.

Ideologically, both men are ardently anti-abortion and frequently rail against what they see as federal government overreach, and on paper they also seem to have quite a bit in common: They both hold law degrees — from ASU and the University of Miami, respectively — and studied political science in college; they both are in their 40s and have immigrant parents; and though both are certainly conservatives, they’re seen as less extreme than certain others in their party.

Rubio announced his candidacy in April, and his popularity in Arizona has ebbed and flowed in the last five months. The most recent state poll numbers, released just ahead of the second debate, show him in sixth place with 3.9 percent of the Republican vote.

He had 5.7 percent of the vote in a mid-August poll, a big jump from the 3.7 percent he received in July. 
Nationally, Rubio is tied for third place with Carly Fiorina (both have 11 percent), and are polling behind Donald Trump (21 percent) and Ben Carson (20 percent).

With Arizona's presidential primary still months out —- on March 22 — it’s unclear what Rubio’s ground strategy will look like here, and whether he’ll visit the state and host a large political rally as some of his fellow candidates have done.

Rubio’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment so he couldn't be asked whether he’s a big Grateful Dead fan like Brnovich.