Five takeaways from Florida Senate debate

GOP Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy traded fire Wednesday night in their second Florida Senate debate, with Donald Trump hanging over the race heading into the final weeks of the election. 

The showdown comes as Democrats are trying to close the gap in the battleground state. The Rubio is currently ahead by an average of 3.6 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.

Here are five takeaways from the second — and potentially final — debate: 

Murphy wants to hang Trump on Rubio

Murphy missed no opportunity to tie Rubio to the GOP presidential nominee.

The Democratic congressman quickly hinted at his strategy within the first minutes of the debate. He noted that Rubio — like most Republican senators — didn’t drop support for the real estate mogul in the wake of a 2005 tape of Trump speaking lewdly about women.

During a separate question on Syria, Murphy argued that unlike Rubio, “I will stand up to anybody.”

“Sen. Rubio continues to support Donald Trump, and it is shameful that you know that Trump doesn’t even know any of this,” he said. 

He added while responding to a question about criminal justice reform that Trump is one of the “most racist, bigoted candidates” to run for president.

Murphy’s strategy reflects a larger push by Democrats to nationalize tough Senate races by linking GOP incumbents to Trump, who Democrats believe will help them win over moderate and independent voters.

Though Trump won the state’s GOP primary earlier this year, he’s lagged behind Clinton in the polls in Florida for months.

Rubio, however, fired back that Murphy continued to name drop the presidential nominee because he couldn’t undercut his record.

“A noun, a verb and Donald Trump. That’s his answer to everything,” he said.

He also tried to turn the tables during a spat on Cuba.

After Murphy noted a report that Trump may have violated the Cuba embargo, Rubio countered that the congressman supports lifting the embargo adding: “Patrick Murphy agrees with Donald Trump on Cuba.”

But he focused most of his attacks on President Obama, saying that the “Obama economy” has been a “disaster for America.”

Discussing the complicated political alliances in Syria’s ongoing war, Rubio said “this is the situation this president has put us in.” 

When the two tussled over ObamaCare, Rubio accused the Obama administration of being “lawless” and accused Obama of breaking the law over recent shifts in his Cuba policy.

“You can’t just ignore the law of this country the way this administration habitually does,” Rubio said during a back-and-forth over normalizing U.S.-Cuban relations. 

Clinton took aim at Rubio during a campaign stop in Florida this week, noting that Murphy, unlike Rubio, “has never been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump.”

Rubio can’t escape criticism over missed votes 

Rubio ended his presidential campaign in mid-March, but he hasn’t been able to shake questions about his absence from the Senate during his run or about potential future White House bids.

Murphy quickly knocked the GOP senator over his missed votes, saying Rubio has “the worst voting record of any senator from Florida” in decades.

“If you voted as much as you lied you might actually be a decent senator,” he added later in the debate. “We know that you think being a senator is a waste of time.” 

Rubio missed more votes than any other senator in 2015. He’s missed nearly a quarter of all Senate votes in 2016, according to GovTrack, with most of his absences happening before he ended his presidential campaign. 

Rubio and his staff have defended his voting record. He fired back Wednesday that Murphy was focusing on his decision to run for reelection because it made it harder for Democrats to flip the seat.

“It would have been a lot easier for him to run if I don’t changed my mind,” he said. “That’s probably why he’s upset that I decided to run.” 

Rubio also faced a question about whether he would serve out a six-year term and whether his repeated use of the phrase “God willing” when previously asked about it was to give himself wiggle room on a 2020 White House run. 

Rubio demurred, noting he frequently uses the phrase.

“I deeply believe why man plans his steps, it’s God that plans our course,” he said. “It’s not a qualifier. It’s what I truly believe.”

Murphy countered that Rubio was lying to voters in order to be reelected. 

Murphy faces lingering questions about his background

Rubio tried to keep a spotlight on questions that have dogged Murphy since the start of the general election about whether he inflated his work in the private sector and education.

After Murphy touted his background, Rubio hit back that the Democratic congressman is “living up to his reputation as a serial embellisher.”

“Why does someone make things up? You make things up because you don’t have anything real to point to,” Rubio added. 

Republicans have hounded Murphy for touting himself as a certified public accountant even though he does not have a Florida CPA license. 

Rubio took a subtle dig at Murphy during an answer on government welfare programs, saying “anyone, including alleged CPAs,” should be able to figure out that Social Security and Medicare need to be adjusted.

Murphy has also had to battle allegations that he padded his resume over his work on the BP oil spill cleanup. The Tampa Bay Times reported earlier this year that a campaign timeline undermines the Democratic congressman’s claims.

Murphy, however, defended his background, saying “if you look at our fiscal house I think we could probably use a few more CPAs.” 

“I would be quite willing, quite frankly, to put up my experience in the private sector as a CPA and small business person against my opponent, who’s been a lobbyist and career political his entire career,” he said.

Rubio pitching himself as bipartisan dealmaker 

Rubio pushed a repeated theme of his campaign during the debate: He can get legislation passed, Murphy can’t.

“We cannot afford to have sometime in the United States Senate that after four years in Congress has never gotten anything done,” he said early in the debate.

He added that Murphy has been in the House “for four years and it’s like it never even happened.”

“We’re too important a state to have a senator who doesn’t know how to get things done,” he said. 

The focus on his work with Democrats comes as Clinton is leading in polls nationally and as either party is expected to have a slim majority in the Senate — meaning legislation can’t get passed unless it has bipartisan support. 

GOP Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) — who are also up for reelection in purple states — have taken similar tacks to Rubio, stressing that they would be an independent voice in the Senate. 

Murphy, however, argued that Rubio “has been in lockstep with the special interest groups.”

“The senator has proved himself ineffective in Washington,” he added. “He had zero influence in getting Mitch McConnell, his leader, in ever bringing [Zika virus relief funding] up for a vote.”