The 2016 Blast The latest POLITICO scoops and coverage of the 2016 elections. Email Sign Up

Tweets from https://twitter.com/politico/lists/team-politico



AP Photo South Florida Sun-Sentinel: No GOP candidate worthy of endorsement

The editorial board for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has refused to make an endorsement for the GOP primary because “the kind of person who should be running is not in the race.”

“We cannot endorse businessman Donald Trump, hometown Sen. Marco Rubio or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz because they are unqualified to be president,” the editorial board wrote Monday. “Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the best of the bunch, but if you measure a candidate by the caliber of his campaign, Kasich's lack of traction and organization make a vote for him count for little.”

The paper had previously backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush before he dropped out of the race in February.

“We favored the adult in the room, Jeb Bush, a smart, experienced and principled conservative. But the nation wasn't ready for another Bush, and our former governor wasn't ready for the anti-establishment edge in today's Twitter-fueled campaign era," the editorial board wrote Monday.

The newspaper then goes on to break down each candidate and the flaws with their campaigns.

In October the editorial board published a scathing review of Rubio titled “Marco Rubio should resign, not rip us off.” In January, the state’s largest newspaper The Tampa Bay Times threw its support behind Bush. And the paper had also harsh words for Rubio, who the editorial board wrote was "a likable opportunist with a persuasive sales pitch but a thin record of accomplishment." Bush dropped out of the race just two weeks later.

But last week there was good news for Rubio when the Miami-Herald said he was the "best remaining candidate with a mostly positive message and a practical nomination."

The Florida primary is on March 15 and is the last remaining hope for Rubio whose campaign has been losing steam. A Monmouth University Poll out Monday had Trump at 38 percent and Rubio at 30. Cruz is a distant third with 17 percent.