Rally Attendees React To Rubio

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DALLAS (CBS11) - Senator Marco Rubio made a stop at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas Friday, hoping to seize momentum from Thursday night's debate before Super Tuesday.

An enthusiastic crowd of 400 to 500 supporters cheered on Rubio as he took the stage. He seemed to play to the youth in the crowd and there were many young people.

Before the promises and policy talk, Rubio invoked Twitter.

"'Leight weight chocker Marco Rubio looked like a little boy on stage, not presidential material," Rubio read from his phone.

It was a tweet sent by competitor and frontrunner Donald Trump after Thursday's debate. Rubio's comment was meant as a jab at Trump and perhaps reach a population that will vote for the first time.

"I just could not stop laughing. He took so many stabs at Trump, which were necessary. It appeals to my millennial era," says 19-year-old Liliana Serna, a Rubio supporter.

A group of five University of Texas at Dallas students also made the morning trek to see Senator Rubio with signs in hand.

"He's young, he's energized, and he has this new message of the new generation of conservatives, as compared to what you would usually see as old, white dudes up in Capitol Hill reigning down," says 19-year-old supporter Alex Holcomb.

"He's offering us a take that just comes from not being part of the baby boomer generation, someone who can look and say here's the things that worked, here's the things that don't work, here's what I want to do," says 21-year-old supporter Robby Dube.

Rubio may still have an uphill battle to climb to the White House.  He has yet to win a primary or a caucus. But the young supporters say he can do it with their help.

"There are a lot of universities in this area, and there's a lot of young Republicans, like myself. People don't think we're out there, but we are. We're here," says Serna.

Rubio was running about an hour late when he arrived here, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. From here, he was on to Oklahoma City and then Midland.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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