Rubio Campaign Press Release - READ: Marco Rubio's Campaign Manager Reveals How They Stunned Everyone in Iowa

To: Team Marco and Interested Parties
From: Terry Sullivan, Rubio Campaign Manager
Date: February 2, 2016

Last night was a great night for Marco and just the first step in what will be a long nominating process that moved to New Hampshire when he landed in Manchester last night. What we witnessed in Iowa yesterday was the result of the strength of Marco's candidacy, a vision for a New American Century that resonated across a broad spectrum of caucus-goers, and a campaign built from the ground-up over the last few months that was ready to persuade and turn out the vote.

Here are 6 key takeaways from last night:

1) The Delegate Count

After last night, Marco has earned 7 delegates to Ted Cruz's 8 and Donald Trump's 7.

2) Marco Is the Strongest Candidate in the Race

Marco is the most compelling candidate with the best message. We knew that when people saw Marco at his events and heard his message, they would join the campaign. As CNN wrote this morning, "Marco-mentum is real." And last night's results are even more remarkable when considering the onslaught of negative advertising Marco faced from the Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush campaigns and Super PACs.

To put this in perspective, the Jeb Bush campaign and Super PAC alone exposed the average Iowa resident to more than 34 minutes of 30-second attack ads against Marco. Yet throughout that, Marco's favorability and broad appeal remained untarnished and compelling for voters who decided late.

3) A Ground Game Meticulously Built, Seldom Talked About

Over the last few months, the campaign had built a significant ground game in Iowa that we didn't talk about. Over the last month, we made 200,000 voter contacts. In the last four days, we knocked on 10,000 doors. This on-the-ground campaign was complemented with a significant digital effort, especially on Facebook. We knew exactly the voters who were inclined to support Marco, identified more than 30,000 pro-Marco voters, and targeted a defined persuasion universe through a combined phone, door, digital, and friend-to-friend campaign.

4) Assembling a Broad Coalition

On the way to his strong finish in Iowa, Marco assembled a broad coalition of voters. According to entrance polls, Marco won 21% of those who considered themselves Evangelical. The significance of that could be seen in counties like Sioux County where Marco over-performed our vote goals. Of the 27% of caucus-goers who said the economy and jobs were their top issue, Marco won with 30%, beating even Donald Trump. And Marco carried those who decided in just the past few days. Of the 16% who decided just on Caucus Day, Marco won that category with 28%. Of those who decided "in the last few days," Marco won with 31%.

5) A Candidate Who Can Defeat the Democrats Is Important to Voters

Marco's message resonated with Iowa voters as we approached Caucus Day. Of the 21% of caucus-goers who said "can win in November" was the one quality that mattered most to them, Marco won with an astounding 44% over Trump's 24% and Cruz's 22%.

6) A Campaign in Action

One story from Urbandale highlights Marco's campaign in action on Caucus night. A woman attending her caucus last night unexpectedly filled in for a Marco speaker. Quickly accessing digital talking points from the campaign, she helped carry her precinct with 152 Rubio votes, more than Cruz and Trump combined.

Check out this series of tweets that captured what happened:

"Alright, I guess I'm doing this.I'm talking from the heart here." says she pulled Rubio talk pts from guest wifi pic.twitter.com/ykNBwWVAIE

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 2, 2016

Last minute Rubio speaker gets the loudest and longest applause tho pic.twitter.com/BpBOfQacwh

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 2, 2016

Rubio yuuge winner in Urbandale-13; Rubio 152, Cruz 77, Trump 70 pic.twitter.com/XqalRa5P8L

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) February 2, 2016