Why Cruz, Rubio and Paul should gang up on Trump

Conservatives were happy when three freshman senators who defeated establishment candidates in Republican primaries —Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul — announced for president last year. Now that two of the three are well-positioned for the primaries and Cruz is leading in Iowa, they should be ecstatic.

But there is increasing unease in conservative circles that the attacks they have been launching against one another will damage all three of them to the benefit of other, less conservative candidates. Cruz and Rubio in particular have started hitting each other as they both have risen in the polls, emphasizing what in the past would have seemed like minor ideological and tactical differences.

Because Rubio is also vying for establishment support, he is taking at least as much friendly fire from candidates like Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, who are aiming at moderate voters in New Hampshire. But in an anti-establishment year, it's shots from the Right on Rubio's immigration record that could do the most damage. "It could be a bloodbath," complained one Washington conservative activist.

Paul is significantly behind both candidates in state and national polling. But he has devoted a lot of his time on the stump and social media to arguing that Rubio's approach to immigration, defense spending and surveillance aren't really conservative. "Marco, Marco, Marco," was his plaintive debate cry. "How is this conservative?"