Rubio remains out of fray, seeks supporters

DES MOINES - Marco Rubio says he is focused on voters and the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.

Not the polls. And not Donald Trump.

Rubio says he thinks he will win the nomination by swaying voters on the ground level.

'You try to meet as many caucusgoers as possible,” Rubio said Friday in an interview. 'You try to convince them you're the right person for the job.”

This weekend, the Republican candidate for president and U.S. Senator from Florida is back in Iowa, where he planned to visit a brewery and a high-school football game last night and then tailgate at the Iowa State-Iowa football game today in Ames.

Rubio consistently has been in the top handful in polls for the GOP nomination, including polls in Iowa. But he hasn't broken through to the top two or three slots.

Lately, the leader in those polls has been Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman and reality television star who has taken the GOP race by storm.

More Republican candidates have begun launching verbal attacks on Trump. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is the latest, this week calling Trump 'an unserious and unsustainable narcissist.”

But just as Rubio said he is not concerning himself with the polls, he said he will keep his campaign focused ahead and not worry about taking shots at Trump or anyone else in the field.

'I'm not running against them for president, I'm running for president,” Rubio said. 'I spend most of my time talking about who I am and what I would do.”

Trump has tapped into a field of supporters who are tired of politics and politicians. Although he has served in state and federal elected office since 2000, Rubio said he, too, is an anti-establishment candidate. He noted his election to the U.S. Senate in 2010, when, in the Republican primary, he defeated incumbent Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Rubio added that one of the reasons he opted not to run for re-election in the U.S. Senate was he grew to realize Congress was incapable of achieving meaningful results.

Also, Rubio could not run for the U.S. Senate and president in the same election.

'The establishment in both parties has lost touch with the people,” Rubio said.

Rubio, like most of his Republican colleagues, has been critical of the multination deal to limit Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons. Rubio spoke out against the deal this week on the Senate floor.

On Friday, Rubio said it's possible no better deal could have been made, but if that was the case, no deal and continued economic sanctions would have been better.