Robots Follow Marco Rubio All The Way To South Carolina

Bleep blorp. The robots have followed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to South Carolina. 

Since his rough debate performance on Saturday, when he repeated the same canned line over and over , Rubio has been hounded by two Democratic operatives dressed in homemade robot costumes. 

The operatives, Eddie Vale and Kevin McAlister from the Democratic super PAC American Bridge, first showed up at a Sunday morning town hall event in Londonderry, New Hampshire, Rubio's first stop after the debate. Since then, they've appeared at all his other public events to remind people of Rubio's robotic performance.

Rubio finished in a disappointing fifth place in New Hampshire, after placing third in the Iowa caucuses. In his speech to supporters Tuesday night, the senator acknowledged that his poor debate performance likely contributed to his loss.

 "Our disappointment tonight was not on you. It's on me. It's on me. I did not do well on Saturday night," he said to the crowd in Manchester. "So listen to this: That will never happen again."

During that debate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) called out Rubio for using the same attack line over and over: "And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing."

"There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech . There it is, everybody," said Christie, who finished just behind Rubio in New Hampshire and is reportedly suspending his campaign .

The characterization of Rubio as a robot has really stuck, and the bots are trying to make sure he doesn't outrun it -- or them. On Wednesday, they showed up for Rubio's first stop in South Carolina. 

UPDATE: 7:54 p.m. -- A third American Bridge staffer, Will Schoell, has joined the Rubio robot brigade. Schoell is Marco-Tron (202), and he arrived at the Capitol Wednesday afternoon to greet Rubio's return. Schoell was wearing a fifth-place ribbon, in honor of Rubio's finish in the New Hampshire primary.