The Latest: Rubio says he doesn't support women's draft
By Associated Press
Feb 12, 2016 2:58 PM CST
Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during speak a campaign stop Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, at University of South Carolina campus at Sumter, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)   (Associated Press)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Latest on campaign 2016. (all times local):

3:55 p.m.

Marco Rubio says he doesn't support a military draft for women and "forcing them to be combat soldiers" — reversing his previous position.

The Florida senator suggested during last week's Republican presidential debate that he believed selective service should be open to men and women, and that women should have the right to participate in combat service.

But addressing a faith forum at conservative Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, on Friday, Rubio said "I don't support drafting women and forcing them to be combat soldiers."

He also said he thought the selective service was obsolete, anyway, since he didn't believe there ever would be a need for a military draft again in the United States.

Some of the loudest applause for Rubio came when he declared that the country needs "to get back to the fundamental truth, our faith is important."

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3:00 p.m.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is enlisting the help of black Democrats to undermine Bernie Sanders' push to claim a piece of President Barack Obama's legacy.

Clinton sought solidarity with Obama at every turn during Thursday's debate in Milwaukee, referring to herself as a "staunch supporter" of his health care law and praising him as a role model on race relations.

On Friday, Clinton's African-American allies in Congress were seizing upon the Vermont senator's comments during the debate that race relations would "absolutely" be better under a future Sanders administration.

New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries says in an interview with CNN that it seemed a "bit presumptuous" to conclude that Sanders was going to be "the great healer in race relations."

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2:00 p.m.

Jeb Bush says the president should be a role model in many ways, including in terms of faith.

Bush told several hundred attendees at a faith forum at conservative Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. on Friday that he was brought to tears watching relatives of the Charleston church shooting forgive the accused gunman during his televised arraignment last summer.

The former Florida governor had flown into Charleston the night of the June 17 shootings for a campaign stop but rescheduled his events after the tragedy. Bush says President Barack Obama has many talents but that being a leader of faith isn't one of them.

He says too often public officials shy away from publicly discussing their own religion and says that's not what America should be about, calling the ability to discuss differences and beliefs "the whole point of the American experience."

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1:45 p.m.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is receiving the support of the Black Lives Matter movement in his home state.

Dozens of activists gathered at the Vermont Statehouse Friday to call for a racial justice agenda in the state, including more hiring of African-American teachers and school administrators and more accountability for state agency hiring practices.

The event came a day after congressman and long-time civil rights leader John Lewis endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, and said he doesn't recall meeting Sanders during key events of the 1960s civil rights era.

Participants including Rajnii ('RAZH-knee') Eddins expressed deep respect for Lewis, but said they're less concerned about what people were doing in the 1960s than what they are doing and saying now.

Some credited Sanders with representing Vermont's open style of government.

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1:10 p.m.

CBS says that all of the remaining major Republican candidates for president will be on stage for the next GOP debate.

The debate starts at 9 p.m. EST on Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina, the next state on the primary calendar for the GOP.

Participating in the debate: Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

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12:50 p.m.

Republican presidential hopeful John Kasich believes that building a political legacy should be based on implementing change, not "stopping stuff."

Speaking in Columbia, he says, "If your legacy is of negative, "I stopped stuff," what is that?"

Kasich's comments weren't in reference to any of his rivals. But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has become known for fighting against many things in Congress, chief among them the president's health care overhaul law.

Kasich's comments came while speaking to at a chamber of commerce event. He's urging the crowd to "help him out," in south Carolina, where he's not spent time building a campaign infrastructure.

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12:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is reserving commercial time in 17 states beyond the next two to vote in the Democratic presidential primary, Nevada and South Carolina.

Among the states where Clinton will show ads: Texas, Minnesota and Georgia, where voters weigh in on March 1.

The new ad buy, captured by advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG, boosts Clinton's total paid media costs to $27.7 million. That's still just shy of her rival Bernie Sanders, whose $28.4 million ad buy is concentrated in six states beyond Nevada and South Carolina.

The total figures reflect spending that has occurred and is planned on broadcast, cable and satellite television, as well as some radio.

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10:30 a.m.

Former South Carolina first lady Iris Campbell is endorsing Republican Jeb Bush for president, further cementing a long-standing relationship between the two families.

The campaign announced Friday that the wife of late South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell would be backing Bush, as she and her husband did for his father and brother.

The late governor, a conservative icon in South Carolina, helped elect both former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush to the presidency, serving as campaign co-chairman for each when they sought the White House.

Campbell also headed up Washington, D.C.-based efforts to elect Jeb Bush as Florida governor in 1998. Carroll Campbell died in 2005 after battling Alzheimer's.

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10:00 a.m.

One of Chris Christie's most high-profile fundraisers is throwing his money behind Ohio's John Kasich.

Kasich campaign chief John Weaver says Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot is now backing the Kasich campaign.

Langone spokeswoman Pam Goldman confirmed the decision.

Christie dropped his bid Wednesday following a disappointing sixth place finish in New Hampshire, the state in which he'd staked his candidacy. Langone did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told The Associated Press Wednesday that Donald Trump's commanding New Hampshire win was a sign that voters are sick of the status quo.

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9:45 a.m.

John Kasich's campaign is taking to the airwaves in South Carolina with two television ads displaying different sides of the Ohio governor.

In a more biographical spot, Kasich looks into the camera and talks about how his parents were killed by drunk drivers. He says the experience "transformed" him and helped him find his faith and a purpose in life. Kasich's parents were killed in 1987, when Kasich was serving in Congress.

The second ad features a narrator with a Southern accent talking about Kasich's first 100 days in office, during which he's pledged to secure the border, cut taxes and freeze regulations.

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9:20 a.m.

Jeb Bush is drawing larger than expected crowds in South Carolina.

The former Florida governor's campaign says that events Friday and Saturday are being moved to larger venues due to increased demand.

A Thursday event in Sumter was also relocated because more people than the campaign had expected requested free tickets to attend. Bush is continuing to stress is executive experience credentials during this week's campaign swing ahead of South Carolina's Feb. 20 GOP primary.

On Monday, his brother, former President George W. Bush, is expected to accompany Bush to a campaign event in North Charleston.

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8:45 a.m.

Jeb Bush is defending his decision to bring his brother, former President George W. Bush, to South Carolina to help him campaign.

Bush told ABC's Good Morning America on Friday that greeting voters with the elder Bush wasn't a sign of desperation, as Donald Trump suggested at one point. George W. Bush left the White House in January 2009 with low approval ratings.

The GOP candidate said his brother remains popular in South Carolina because of his administration's unwavering support of the military. Jeb Bush declared, "this is the beginning of the campaign" and "for my brother to speak on behalf of the skills I have to lead this country will be quite helpful."

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