--- title: Jeb Bush Uses Rick Santorum Gaffe In Ad Against Marco Rubio description: Santorum failed Thursday in an interview to list anything Rubio had achieved during his time in the Senate. canonical: https://time.com/4210043/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-rick-santorum-gaffe-ad/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-05T20:12:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:25.454Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush Uses Rick Santorum Gaffe In Ad Against Marco Rubio og:description: Santorum failed Thursday in an interview to list anything Rubio had achieved during his time in the Senate og:url: https://time.com/4210043/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-rick-santorum-gaffe-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f9f52e78a37eb2/69887b35cf40a83374c41b4b/timepol-jeb-bush-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4732 og:image:height: 2662 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush Uses Rick Santorum Gaffe In Ad Against Marco Rubio twitter:description: Santorum failed Thursday in an interview to list anything Rubio had achieved during his time in the Senate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f9f52e78a37eb2/69887b35cf40a83374c41b4b/timepol-jeb-bush-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush Uses Rick Santorum Gaffe in Ad Against Marco Rubio > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e19c72b9-b7f3-4b7e-b649-060ee4c62a1a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 5, 2016 8:12 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Jan. 23, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Jan. 23, 2016. Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 5, 2016 8:12 PM UTC Jeb Bush’s campaign took another jab Friday at opponent Marco Rubio with an ad that uses an interview segment from Rick Santorum. Santorum, who [endorsed Rubio earlier this week](http://time.com/4207369/rick-santorum-ends-campaign-endorses-marco-rubio/), fumbles on MSBC’s “Morning Joe,” failing Thursday to list a significant achievement of Rubio’s in the Senate. “I guess it’s hard to say they’re accomplishments,” Santorum says. “The bottom line is he didn’t get accomplishments done, neither did President Obama.” The ad juxtaposes a clip of Santorum’s gaffe with a highlight reel of Bush’s accomplishments during his time as Governor of Florida. Rubio, the junior Senator from Florida, is [rising in the polls](http://time.com/4209197/donald-trump-new-hampshire-poll-marco-rubio/) after coming in third at the Iowa Caucuses. His former mentor, however, is fighting to stay in the race and looking for a boost in the New Hampshire primary. Bush is currently polling at almost 10% in New Hampshire, compared to Rubio at 15%, according to a polling average by RealClearPolitics. Rubio[ has brushed off Bush’s criticisms,](http://time.com/4207613/marco-rubio-prospered-by-lying-low-can-it-last/) telling reporters on Thursday: “sometimes when people run into adversity, they don’t react well and they say things they maybe will regret later.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4210043/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-rick-santorum-gaffe-ad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4210043/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-rick-santorum-gaffe-ad/"},"headline":"Jeb Bush Uses Rick Santorum Gaffe in Ad Against Marco Rubio","datePublished":"2016-02-05T20:12:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:25.454Z","description":"Santorum failed to list anything Rubio had achieved during his time in the Senate","url":"https://time.com/4210043/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-rick-santorum-gaffe-ad/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f9f52e78a37eb2/69887b35cf40a83374c41b4b/timepol-jeb-bush-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f9f52e78a37eb2/69887b35cf40a83374c41b4b/timepol-jeb-bush-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Jan. 23, 2016.","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4210043/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-rick-santorum-gaffe-ad/","name":"Jeb Bush Uses Rick Santorum Gaffe in Ad Against Marco Rubio"}}]}] ```