Ever since polling made it clear that Democratic Representative Patrick Murphy was likely to defeat any of the prospective GOP candidates, Florida Republicans have been crying out for the return of Little Marco.
77 percent of Republicans, say Marco Rubio should run for another Senate term, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll.
Of course, there were a couple of problems. First, Rubio had said he wasn’t going to run again. Also, one of those running for his seat was his “real good friend,” Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. Much as he hinted about returning to the race, Rubio just couldn’t find a good reason to climb over the guy he had endorsed for the spot. But then ...
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said the mass shooting this weekend in Orlando, Florida, gave him pause about his service and “deeply impacted” him, remarks that were widely read as pushing the door back open on possibly running for re-election.
And quicker than you can say taking advantage of a huge tragedy, Rubio’s BFF offered to sit this one out—after a nice heart to heart with Rubio—pushing that back door wide open.
We caught up today with Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who hailed Florida's Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera as "a patriot, and an unselfish one at that" for encouraging Marco Rubio to run for a second term.
Which leaves Rubio facing just two new problems. First, polling shows that he’s a long way from a sure thing.
When Republican efforts to pressure Marco Rubio into running for a second term began to heat up about a week ago, we cataloged all the reasons why he might (or ought to) be deaf to those entreaties. But the biggest of all is that despite all the people whispering in Rubio's ear that he's the strongest candidate the GOP has to offer, he could still very well lose—and shatter any presidential ambitions he may yet harbor.
It’s hard to do a White House re-run when you can’t even hold a seat in your own state. Especially when “I could carry a swing state” is the first item on your candidate resume. And Rubio did just lose the Florida primary to Trump by 20 points, showing that those same Republicans cheering him to return were definitely willing to bypass him just a few weeks ago.
There’s also the little problem of Marco Rubio endorsing Donald Trump right in the middle of his Mexican-judge rant, just previous to his Muslim-president rant. So Rubio gets to explain to the people of Florida—including Orlando—how he supports Trump’s racist rants, his religious restrictions, and his conspiracy theories.
That is, if he runs. Because at the moment he says he’s not. Nope. Not at all.