How Marco Rubio Is Using the Obama Playbook Against Clinton—and Bush

The Republican presidential candidate boldly goes where Barack Obama has gone before, betting that Americans will again pick youth over experience.

Senator Marco Rubio(R) ,R-FL, leaves after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and other Senators on Capitol Hill April 14, 2015 in Washington, DC.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
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A charismatic young first-term senator with with an unusual background and inspiring life story defies long odds to defeat a titan of American politics and win the presidency by capturing the country's imagination as a fresh face for a new generation.

In 2008, that was Barack Obama. Now Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who turns 44 on Thursday, is using the same playbook—nominally aimed at presumptive Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, but conveniently doubling as a case against top Republican rival Jeb Bush—in a similarly audacious quest for the White House.