Marco Rubio: Testing The Waters

Last Tuesday, Republican Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, announced a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez. At 37, Rubio, a fresh-faced charismatic Cuban American and Jeb Bush protégé, would seem to be the perfect recruit for statewide office. But a big obstacle stands between him and the GOP nomination: Charlie Crist, the state's popular, moderate, one-term governor, who is expected to announce his own run for the Senate seat very soon.

.....That will change between now and the August 2010 primary, as the media flock to cover the most prominent conservative-versus-moderate Republican primary campaign in the country. When Republicans in Florida get to know Rubio, they will discover a dynamic speaker with an appealing biography and a deeply held conservative philosophy.

......He then landed a few punches, saying Crist's plan to impose "big-government mandates" to cap carbon emissions in Florida would hurt the economy with little return for the environment. Rubio criticized Crist's property tax reduction as "a cosmetic fix to a very serious problem." Rubio had unsuccessfully fought to abolish the property tax and replace it with a 2.5 percent consumption tax.

He also took aim at Crist's support for the stimulus package and especially his decision to campaign for it with Obama in Florida. "It's one thing to say you'll accept the funds from the federal government," Rubio said, "it's another to actively advocate those policies, which I think are disastrous for America."

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