Rubio assailed by rivals
Surging Republican hopeful Marco Rubio wilted under sustained attack in the latest US presidential debate, denting his stature going into tomorrow's New Hampshire primary dominated by frontrunner Donald Trump.
The telegenic, 44-year-old Florida senator -- who polls suggest has the best change of winning the White House for the Republicans -- was savaged by his rivals late Saturday for his lack of experience, floundering on a debate stage where he often shines.
A strong showing in New Hampshire would confirm Rubio as the establishment candidate-of-choice for the nomination after his strong third-place finish in Iowa, behind Trump and evangelical US senator Ted Cruz.
Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich, meanwhile, need to wrest some of the momentum away from Rubio if they are to keep their presidential dreams alive as the voting schedule shifts south and west.
The most sustained attack was waged by New Jersey governor Christie, a no-nonsense former federal prosecutor who has campaigned hard in New Hampshire and denigrated Rubio for being controlled by his team.
"Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States... the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem," Christie said.
The senator was mocked for repeating the same rehearsed line over and over again -- doing exactly what Christie criticized him for.
"Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing," Rubio said on a loop.
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