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Senator Sweet Tooth
Marco Rubio’s been working to position himself as the anti-Donald Trump candidate in the GOP primary, but behind the scenes on the campaign trail, he’s known for another quality: His sweet tooth.
Rubio’s notorious for his love of sweets, and around the senator there’s often a stash of candy bars for him and his aides. On the charter plane he shared with press on Friday there was a basket positioned near the senator with an array of sweets — Twix bars, Kit-Kats, M&Ms and more. Local supporters have been known to lay out candy for the senator in holding rooms before his event with the knowledge that he’s a fan of sweets.
His sweet tooth once earned him a toothache, however — Rubio cracked a molar biting down on a too-cold Twix one morning while campaigning in South Carolina, and his team had to find him an emergency dentist that morning.
But the experience didn’t turn him off from the candy.
The senator asked for a Twix bar before the plane departed, and staff and reporters snuck snacks from the basket throughout the day.
-- Alexandra Jaffe covering the Rubio campaign
Sometimes you feel like a lost puppy, other times you find one
CONWAY, S.C. – The campaign trail is full of unexpected turns and chance encounters.
Driving down a secluded highway here on Thursday, I spotted a tiny creature scurrying down the road. As I slowed down, my colleague and I were stunned to see it was a puppy! We immediately pulled over and tried to coax the dog into the car. To our surprise, she came without protest and without a peep.
Collarless and relatively clean, we assumed she belonged to someone but had no way of knowing whom. She looked like a little lamb. We named her Lamb Chop.
The poor pup was very weak so I tried to giver her some water out of an almond tin can. She was not interested.
After driving around to a few houses with no luck, we made our way to the closest police station, where officers pointed us to the nearest shelter.
At this point, Lamb Chop and I were fully bonded. She was so sweetly snuggled against my leg that my heart started to break at the thought of leaving her. But once we arrived at the shelter and saw how caring the environment was, I felt a little bit better--though my face doesn’t exactly show it.
The employees found no microchip but sent out her photo to owners in the area who had lost dogs recently. Fingers crossed she makes her way back home. Otherwise, this reporter is seriously considering adopting her as a trail mascot.
-- Monica Alba covering the Clinton campaign