Rubio Is Cool With Supporters Voting for Kasich in Ohio

The Marco Rubio campaign is telling its supporters to vote for John Kasich in Ohio in an effort to keep Donald Trump from securing the nomination. “John Kasich is the one candidate in Ohio that can beat Donald Trump—that’s stating the obvious, that is indisputable," the New York Times quotes Rubio aide Alex Conant as saying. Rubio himself says he's fine with his supporters voting for Kasich in the Ohio primary on Tuesday, USA Today reports. In return, Rubio hopes Kasich supporters will return the favor and vote for him in Florida. "Any vote that doesn’t go to me is helping Donald Trump win the 99 delegates that [Florida] will award to the winner,” Rubio says, per Politico.

Mitt Romney called for a similar strategy earlier this month. There's only one problem: None of Rubio's rivals appear to be on board. "We were going to win in Ohio without his help, just as he's going to lose in Florida without ours,” Politico quotes a Kasich spokesperson as saying. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz continues to insist he's the only remaining candidate who can beat Trump and wants no part of Rubio's "games." "It’s real, real simple," Cruz says, per the Times. "How do you beat Donald Trump? You beat him.” Everyone involved admits it will be much harder to keep Trump from being nominated if he wins either Ohio or Florida. (More Election 2016 stories.)