Rubio said he was merely there help Gov. Terry Branstad mark his birthday. Rubio takes message to Iowa

ALTOONA, Iowa — And so it begins again.

Thirty-eight months before the next presidential vote is cast, Marco Rubio on Saturday night became the first of the potential 2016 contestants to swoop in to this first caucus state and test the GOP’s new rallying cry to broaden its appeal.


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Seven hundred people turned out to see the Florida senator at the annual birthday fundraiser bash for GOP Gov. Terry Branstad. Rubio had the spotlight all to himself — he said he was merely here to help the governor mark his 66th birthday, but no one believed it for a minute.

The appearance of the Republican Party’s most prominent Latino face in Iowa — a state President Barack Obama won by six points on Election Day — was no casual drop-by after the drubbing Mitt Romney took among Hispanics nationally.

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Republicans are looking to Rubio to help guide the party out of the past in which its base is aging, white men and into the future when it can appeal to young, female and more diverse voters, most crucially Latinos. And the first-term Florida senator is happy to help light the way.

Taking a page out of the Democrats’ playbook on Saturday, the Florida senator wove his personal story into direct appeal to the middle class. “Our workers are not making as much as they made in the same jobs 25 years ago,” he said. “My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid at hotel. They were able to provide for us a standard of living. …”

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To jump-start the country, he spoke of lower taxes, fewer government regulations on businesses, job training and a stronger nuclear family.

Without acknowledging Rubio is laying the groundwork for a 2016 run, his advisers say the charismatic senator wants to craft a message to Latinos and the middle-class demonstrating that the Republican Party represents their conservative values of family, faith and the American dream.

Before he spoke, Rubio told reporters that he has been circulating drafts of his own immigration reform bill to his congressional colleagues, and has been getting good feedback. “People understand that we need to do something to address these issues, and we need to do it in a reasonable and responsible way,” Rubio said.

In his speech at Branstad’s party, Rubio said he understood Republicans’ frustrations over their electoral loss, but insisted that the country needed to return to its traditional principles to remain a power and global role model.

“If America declines, there is nothing to take our place,” he said. “What country is going to serve as an inspiration?”

And in a clear swipe at President Barack Obama’s commitment to raise taxes on the nation’s wealthiest, he said: “The way[s] to turn our economy around is not by making rich people poorer, but make poor people richer.”

Iowa Republican strategist Ed Failor said Rubio’s message indicated that “[the GOP is] still salable. That’s what we believe can appeal to the middle class.”

Since Romney’s defeat, Republicans have been sounding a clarion call to reach beyond rich, white America. The party establishment has high hopes that Rubio, a Cuban American, can help lift them out of the hole the party has dug with Hispanic voters, and play a leading role on immigration reform in Congress.

But it remains unclear whether the Republican base, which has been hostile to immigration reform previously, will now embrace the idea of a pathway to citizenship for at least some illegal immigrants after the shellacking Romney took among Hispanics in the past election. Romney veered sharply to the right in the GOP primary on immigration to satisfy the base and never managed to move to a more palatable center, for Latinos anyway.

“Something has to happen,” Branstad said in an interview. “That’s why Marco Rubio is a great choice for our party. America is the land of immigrants and he represents the American dream.”

“It’s time,” said GOP state Rep. Tim Kapucian. “We need to create path to citizenship for the people who are here. This amnesty thing every 30 years isn’t working.”

Rubio may have been the first to call for Republicans to broaden their appeal to minorities and immigrants — posting a message on Facebook an hour after Romney conceded. But post-election, that space is quickly crowding.

There has been no shortage of ambitious GOP officials demanding that the party figure out how to appeal to the new diverse America Romney clearly missed — a country that includes a growing numbers of Hispanic, black and young voters, and a diminishing number of white, older voters.

With lightning speed, a number of Republicans — including Rubio, though rather gently — denounced Romney’s recent comments to donors, claiming he lost because President Obama had bestowed “gifts” on the Democratic base. Among the sharpest critics of such rhetoric was possible 2016 contender and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Kelly Ayotte and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all bristled.

Rubio took a more measured tone Saturday when ask by reporters whether Romney’s comments to donors this week had interfered with efforts to turn the page.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Rubio said.

“Obviously, he’s coming off his election, he was talking to his donors. But you know, I think we’re all gonna move on and we’re gonna move forward — and I hope Mitt will stay involved in politics. I thought he was a great candidate, would have made a great president, and I hope he stays involved in our party.

Obama handily beat McCain in 2008, but he had to fight for his 52 percent to 46 percent victory this year. U ntil the end, polls showed the race very tight and Republican operatives and politicians believed Romney would prevail.

“[Obama] talked and talked up their ground game and you didn’t think it was possible for them to deliver what they said they would,” said Tim Albrecht, spokesman for Gov. Branstad. “Well, they did. They really hustled. They were building on the general election support from four years ago.”

Craig Robinson, former Iowa party chairman, said that the Obama campaign "did a better job of identifying supporters and turning them out," and added, “Romney lacked a message and a vision.”