Marco Rubio decides to profit from slaughter in Orlando, will try to keep his Senate seat

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has decided that the prospect of going back to the Senate is less odious to him than unemployment. So he's reneging on his pledge not to run again.

Rubio is set to announce the decision later Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it before a formal announcement. One person said Rubio has started privately informing key Republicans he will run. […]

The decision to continue his career in elective politics comes barely three months after Rubio, 45, ended his presidential campaign after an embarrassing loss in his home-state primary, where he finished nearly 20 points behind Donald Trump and won only one county outright—his home base of Miami-Dade. But the handful of candidates seeking to succeed him in the Senate each struggled to break out as Rubio sent a series of signals that he might be willing to seek re-election.

Rubio is using Orlando as an excuse to run, saying he was "deeply impacted" by the massacre. Not deeply impacted enough to vote for any of the gun measures this week that would have possibly kept the assault weapon used out of the hands of the killer. Maybe he was deeply impacted enough by this slaughter at an LGBT nightclub to change his view that gay rights are "a real and present danger." But probably not. Or maybe he was deeply impacted enough to change his mind about the Senate being such a horrible place. But probably not. 

Democratic front-runner for the seat, Rep. Patrick Murphy, sums it up nicely. Rubio “abandoned his constituents, and now is treating them like a consolation prize.”

That was fast... pic.twitter.com/qStwJ5leRX

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) June 22, 2016