Then There Were Three

The once crowded field of Republican presidential candidates has been winnowed down to three after Marco Rubio dropped out. At one point in time, he looked like he had a real chance of getting the nomination. So what happened? I think he had the following factors hurt him.
Crowded field – There are three roads to the nomination; establishment, right wing or outsider. The only real competition Trump and Cruz had was Ben Carson. Several candidates were vying for the establishment path. Bush spent a lot of time and money going after him. Christie devastated him with the comments about him being programmed and repeating himself.
Lack of experience – Experience doesn’t seem to matter with the other two roads but is important to the establishment.
Immigration – Trump has whipped up the country into a frenzy over immigration. Rubio’s common-sense approach didn’t fit the mood.
Trump attack – Rubio went after Trump in a very clumsy way and had some pretty stupid comments.
This certainly isn’t the end for Rubio. He is only forty-four. There is a governor’s race coming up. There is a long list of candidates that failed the first time out but later got the nomination. He may well be one of them.