Rubio smacks political establishment at Las Vegas rally

Voters can preserve the American dream, but only if they're willing to bring some new blood to the country's political establishment, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio told a throng of receptive retirees at a Las Vegas rally Thursday night.

The U.S. senator from Florida, who spent some of his teenage years in Las Vegas, touted his local ties to open the roughly one-hour campaign event at Mountain Shadows Community Center, in the heart of the Sun City Summerlin senior retirement community.

But Rubio, who tapped Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison to run his state campaign and picked up an endorsement from former Gov. Bob List ahead of his third election visit to Nevada, didn't dwell on any state-specific issues, opting instead to slam leaders from both major national parties for their continued support for "policies from the past."

"Never in my lifetime has the political class been more out of touch with reality than it is right now," he told around 500 rally attendees, winning his loudest applause of the night. "If we keep electing the same kind of people, nothing is going to change."

Rubio outlined his opposition to elements of decades-old federal education, poverty and energy policies before highlighting his support for efforts to simplify the tax code, broaden access to federal student financial aid and put a "hard cap" on government regulations.

He also promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and cancel a recently signed nuclear deal with Iran.

He notably avoided paying lip service to billionaire businessman and GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who leads Rubio by double digits in most national polls.

Trump, who has gained a reputation for testy, high-profile exchanges with reporters and Republican campaign foes, hasn't yet managed to draw Rubio into a war of words.

In fact, Rubio stumped for more than a half-hour without making more than a passing reference to any of his Republican opponents or Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton.

He did find plenty of time to blast President Barack Obama's approach to foreign policy, one he said emboldened America's adversaries.

Nevada, which is an early-voting state with caucuses in February, has attracted a steady stream of attention from Rubio and more than a dozen other Republican and Democratic candidates.

The Silver State, which is home to a 27 percent Hispanic population, could prove especially important for Rubio — the son of Cuban emigres who enjoys relatively strong support among Hispanics, despite backing away from comprehensive immigration reform efforts he once championed.

During a visit to Southern Nevada in May, Rubio said providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, not unlike the proposal touted by Democratic front-runner Clinton, "may be where we wind up" in efforts to reform federal immigration law, but warned no such reforms would grow out of one big bill.

He didn't raise the topic at all Thursday night, an omission that did not go unnoticed by longtime Republican and Sun City resident Marti Bender.

Bender fears Rubio is wary of taking up the issue because he doesn't have a policy prescription to tackle it, though it's not all clear that'll cost him her vote.

"I want to hear the rest of the candidates, but he's got five stars at the moment," she said.

Rubio plans to address more voters at a pair of stops before leaving town. He is scheduled to attend a happy hour event starting 5 p.m. Friday at Havana Grill, 8878 S. Eastern Ave. He will also have a rally at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Elks Lodge, 1217 Nevada Highway, in Boulder City.

Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Find him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven.