--- title: Marco Rubio Trolls Ted Cruz in New Hampshire description: Marco Rubio's campaign is handing out small calculators at rival Ted Cruz's events in New Hampshire canonical: https://time.com/4185720/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-new-hampshire-calculator/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-19T19:50:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:43:48.845Z article:section: Politics og:title: Marco Rubio Trolls Ted Cruz With a Calculator og:description: "That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation" og:url: https://time.com/4185720/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-new-hampshire-calculator/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marco Rubio Trolls Ted Cruz With a Calculator twitter:description: "That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Marco Rubio Trolls Ted Cruz With a Calculator > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Philip Elliott / Sanbornville, N.H.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Sanbornville, N.H. Senior Correspondent Jan 19, 2016 7:50 PM UTC  by [Philip Elliott / Sanbornville, N.H.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Sanbornville, N.H. Senior Correspondent Jan 19, 2016 7:50 PM UTC [Marco Rubio](http://time.com/4185207/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-iowa-faith/)‘s campaign is handing out small calculators at rival [Ted Cruz](http://time.com/4183962/ted-cruz-new-hampshire-republican/)‘s events in New Hampshire. The rib? Cruz himself is a political calculator. Outside a Cruz event at a Sanbornville, N.H., pizza shop, activists on Tuesday offered visitors the tiny gadgets and one-page summary of instances where they say the Texas Republican changed his positions. Among his shifting views: immigration, Syria and Edward Snowden. “That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation,” the sticker on the calculator quotes Rubio as saying. The label on the calculator and the two-sided fact sheet both say they were paid for by Rubio’s campaign. Rubio and Cruz have been [jostling for conservative support](http://time.com/4182083/republican-debate-donald-trump-nasty/) ahead of Iowa’s Feb. 1 primary. Cruz has cast himself as the only consistent conservative in the race. Rubio has criticized him as an opportunist. Rubio’s play is that voters will turn skeptical of Cruz’s claim on conservatives. See a picture of the calculator below.  A calculator being handed out by Marco Rubio's campaign at Ted Cruz events in New Hampshire. 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