sen. marco rubio (r-fla.) is adding a veteran new hampshire political operative to his team as he continues mulling a possible 2016 presidential bid, the latest sign that he is seriously preparing to launch a campaign later this year.









jim merrill, who worked for former gop presidential nominee mitt romney and ran his 2008 and 2012 new hampshire primary campaigns, joined rubio<u+2019>s fledgling campaign on monday, aides to the senator said.









merrill will be joining rubio<u+2019>s reclaim america pac to focus on rubio<u+2019>s new hampshire and broader northeast political operations.









"marco has always been well received in new hampshire, and should he run for president, he would be very competitive there," terry sullivan, who runs reclaim america, said in a statement. "jim certainly knows how to win in new hampshire and in the northeast, and will be a great addition to our team at reclaim america.<u+201d>









news of merrill<u+2019>s hire was first reported by the new york times.
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