Marco Rubio Campaign Urges Ohio Voters To Back Kasich

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is making the case that Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the GOP's best bet to stop Donald Trump in Ohio.

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said on CNN that he hoped Ohio supporters of Kasich would back the governor there.

“I’m just stating the obvious,” Mr. Conant said. “If you are a Republican primary voter in Ohio and you want to defeat Donald Trump, your best chance in Ohio is John Kasich, because John Kasich is the sitting governor, he’s very close to Donald Trump in some of the polls there.”

Rubio himself stopped short of explicitly asking that his supporters, and those of Sen. Ted Cruz, vote for Kasich.

"If a voter in Ohio concludes that voting for John Kasich gives us the best chance to stop Donald Trump there, I anticipate that’s what they’ll do,” Rubio said.

Trump is ahead in Ohio with 36.5 percent of the vote compared to 34 percent for Kasich, according to the latest Real Clear Politics poll average.

Donald Trump currently has 459 delegates, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 360. Rubio and Kasich are far behind with 152 and 54 delegates, respectively. A candidate needs 1,237 delegates to win the nomination.

The Ohio (66 delegates) and Florida (99 delegates) primary elections both take place on Tuesday, March 15.

“I’m open to one thing and that’s winning Florida on Tuesday and going on from there to getting the delegates I need to be the nominee or at least more delegates than anybody else,” Rubio said during the press conference.

Kasich's team has been less than gracious about receiving Rubio's support. "We were going to win in Ohio without his help, just as he's going to lose in Florida without ours,” Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols told Politico.

Rubio acknowledged his weak delegate showing during Thursday night's debate, while Kasich talked about the bigger picture, saying, “It’s about more than numbers.”

Trump’s advantage in Florida is much wider than Ohio. The latest Real Clear Politics average has him polling at 39.9 percent compared to 25.2 percent for Rubio. Cruz and Kasich follow behind with 18.2 and 8.6 percent, respectively.

“I’m not concerned about polls. The only poll I’m concerned about is the one they’re going to count on Tuesday,” Rubio said. “By the way, voters in this election have shown a propensity to change their mind and to do so quickly.”

“If we stop Donald Trump in Florida, we can stop him in Cleveland,” Alex Conant, Rubio’s communications director, said, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. “He will not be the Republican nominee.”

Alison Bauter contributed to this report.