Subject: Marco Rubio

• Protestors Agitate Outside Rubio's Empty Office

  April 20, 2007

• Looking Forward to 2010

  November 5, 2008

• The Crystal Ball Says Rubio for Governor or AG, but Not Senate

  The 2010 election in Florida is shaping up to be insane -- actually it's already insane -- and only two people of any consequence have announced their candidacy for either governor or senator. Former Speaker of the House Marco Rubio has this nice campaign website all set up and ready to go. Problem is, he's not sure what he's running for. He wanted to run for Senate, but the Republican field is frozen right now. If Charlie Crist gets in, Rubio is out. If Martinez steps down and Crist appoints so

  February 5, 2009

• News Roundup

  Esteban ''Steve'' Bovo and Marco Rubio are doing things that might raise a few ethical eyebrows? Who could have imagined? [Herald]"I'm on a boat. I'm on a boat. Everybody look at me cause I'm sailing on a boat. I'm on a boat. I'm on a boat. Take a good hard look at the Mother F*ckin' Boat  ..." Oh, um, the Miami International Boat Show hopes more people say that despite the recession. [Herald]In a time when every other shop on the block is going out of business, there's one industry that is

  February 9, 2009

• Marco Rubio is the "Cuban Newt Gingrich"

  via "Adam Guillette was raised to believe in limited government. When other parents were telling their children stories of Hansel and Gretel, Adam's father would tell him stories about the great achievements of Reagan and Churchill."I am not kidding -- that is the first paragraph of Mr. Guillette's bio on the Americans for Prosperity website. He's now the executive director of the Conservative Leadership Political Action Committee, and today took to the Washington T

  June 5, 2009

• Oh, By The Way, Marco Rubio is Officially Running for Senate

  Sick and tired of the rumor that Charlie Crist is considering jumping into the Senate race in May, one Republican who's not destined to be a fringe candidate, has jumped into the race. It's our own Marco Rubio. Maybe he got restless, considering he's had a pretty campaign website since late last year and no campaign to run in, but he's still keeping it on the down low. According to The Miami Herald he officially put in paperwork to register, and started hiring staff last month. Though, he's not

  March 5, 2009

• Conservatives May Want Rubio To Challenge Crist in Senate Primary

  You would think the Republican party would start trying to find ways to be a more inclusive group. Instead, operating under the assumption that when the democrats make one major screw up, voters will have only one choice to turn to: a newly, ideologically pure Republican party. Now, The Tampa Tribune is reporting that conservative Republicans may try to run a strong primary challenger against Charlie Crist if he decides to run. The two possible anti-Crists: Allen Bense, and our own Marco Rubio.

  March 27, 2009

• Connie Mack IV Will Not Run for Senate in State He Barely Lives In

  If Charlie Crist does not run for Senate, Marco Rubio is officially the luckiest man on Earth. Rep. Connie Mack IV (né Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV), who pulled in decent numbers during early polling mainly because he shares a name with his father, former Sen. Connie Mack III, has decided not to run. Instead, he'll run for re-election to his Southwest Florida House seat. Mack is married to Congresswoman Mary Bono (widow of Sonny Bono), who represents a district in California. This would be

  April 3, 2009

• Miami: Screwed Again

  July 26, 2007

• Nixon Rewound

  August 19, 2004

• Welcome to Fabulous Tallahassee

  April 22, 2004

• News Roundup

  Local It is official. Marco Rubio is running for Senate. [CBS4] The preservation board will vote on whether or not to protect the Bacardi buildings today. [CBS4] The jury in the Liberty City Six trial is at a standstill. [Herald] The St. Stephen's Episcopal Chruch in Coconut Grove was demolished yesterday. [MetroBlog] Sports Marlins picked up a win against the Reds. [NBCMiami]

  May 5, 2009

• Marco Rubio Enters a Race He Will Never Win

    So, former Speaker of the House Marco Rubio has decided to officially enter the Senate race, whether or not Charlie Crist runs. He announced his candidacy on YouTube (how charmingly 2005), and if it wasn't already clear, he's painting himself as the conservative underdog. He talks about how "famous" people might run, and how the President of the United States will come down to Florida and personally squash him like a bug, but, you see, Mario's got a movement. He subscribes to a political id

  May 5, 2009

• Rubio's First Attack Ad: Look, Here's A Picture of Crist with Obama

  Yesterday, Marco Rubio unveiled the first attack ad on his Republican primary opponent, Charlie Crist. The imagery is a slow, trippy reveal of a picture of Crist with President Obama, while an ominous narrator straight out of a dark fairy-tale movie paints the stimulus package that Crist supported in strokes of nightmare and outrage. Rubio, of course, is running far to the right of the more moderate Crist. Dear God, how horrible for this state to have a senator who has a congenial, working relat

  May 12, 2009

• Let's Play Identity Politics For a Moment

  So after the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio in the Republican Senate primary, a lot of people implied it was a snub to Hispanics. We thought this was silly. Crist has won three statewide campaigns in a row, is an extremely popular governor, and has a national profile. He's going to win the primary unless there's some shocking surprise. But, it does raise an important point. Both parties in Florida need to embrace the Hispanic population, and the future of Florida's government

  May 15, 2009

• The Week That Was: A Sense of Belonging

  This was a week where people were just trying to figure out where they belong. It was an awkward thing to watch, like tweens on their first day of middle school figuring out which lunch table to sit at. Jason Taylor knew deep, deep down that his heart belonged to Miami, and he was willing to come back at whatever (super reduced) price. Charlie Crist decided that he belonged far, far away from Florida in the US Senate. He will probably get there, sorry Marco Rubio. So the only question

  May 15, 2009

• Rubio on Sotomayor Appointment: Right Wing Echo Chamber

  Marco Rubio's modus operandi during his long-shot Senate bid seems to be to turn to the hard right any chance he gets. So, it wasn't much of a surprise when he was one of the first wonks in Florida to get up on a shout box and paint President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor with a bit of wary, and released an email statement:"I look forward to hearing more about Judge Sotomayor and her views about the proper role of the courts and judicial activism. The role the Supreme Court is

  May 26, 2009

• Marco Rubio Takes a Swipe at Sonia Sotomayor

  May 28, 2009

• Former Newt Gingrich Staffer: Rubio's Run is Just Stupid

  via MyFloridaHouse.govSo today, some guy, literally some random conservative person, calls Marco Rubio the "Cuban Newt Gingrich." And then someone who used to actually work with Gingrich calls Rubio's uphill battle against Charlie Crist "stupid." Matt Towery used to be a political strategist for Gingrich himself and heads up a new non-partisan polling corporation when he's not busy writing political columns. Today he told the Times/Herald that his Senate r

  June 5, 2009

• News Roundup

  LocalOnce-great writer visits once-great newsroom. [Herald]The death of two infants in March at Miami Children's Hospital is being blamed on bad plumbing that spread a virus. [NBCMiami]More poll numbers confirm what everyone knows: There is a snowball's chance in Hell that Marco Rubio is going to win the primary. [NakedPolitics]$15K is being offered to anyone who has information about a Florida panther shooting that happened in April. [CBS4]Well, this is nice. Mayor Manny Diaz gets to be on a 16

  June 10, 2009

• Anitere Flores in the Mix as Potential Lt. Gov.

  via AnitereFlores.orgFlores with a voter. We figured the best solution to the Marco Rubio "situation" was for the GOP to tack him on as Bill McCollum's running mate to quell any anger amongst the conservative wing for the party bending over backwards for Charlie Crist in the senate primary. Well, Naked Politics reports another young Cuban American is actually being discussed as a potential Lt. Gov. Candidate for the Republicans: Rep. Anitere Flores. Only 32 years old, she represen

  June 10, 2009

• Come into Bob Smith's Den and Hear Him Ramble

  We've blogged a few times about generically named politician Bob Smith's threat to run for Senate, but it seems we never got around to mentioning that he officially declared. This is probably because it doesn't actually matter. Smith used to be a New Hampshire senator but then retired to Florida. He occasionally creeps out of retirement to run for something embarassing (such as the 2008 presidential nomination for the Constitution Party) and then loses. Now he is trying to grab the solidly

  June 15, 2009

• Marco Rubio Backed By Most Ridiculously Conservative Sitting Senator

  Jim DeMintHey now, not every Republican Senator is ready to warmly welcome Charlie Crist into his or her little club. Nope. Jim DeMint, the junior Senator from South Carolina, is ready to endorse Crist's fledgling primary opponent Marco Rubio, according to Politico, at least.  Lets see what wonderful things Sen. DeMint stands for.  Believes that openly gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools. For that matter, he once told a reporter that single mo

  June 15, 2009

• Marco Rubio Supports DeMint's Stance on English-Only Movement and Immigration

  Woah boy, that Marco Rubio sure is doing some interesting political gymnastics. Today, on the heels of his Senate endorsement from uber-conservative Senator Jim DeMint, Rubio affirms that he supports making English the official language of the United States. DeMint is a strong supporter of the English only movement, supports offering Government services only in English, and voted in favor of terminating challenges to English-only job requirements. "Congress must have the courage to dec

  June 16, 2009

• Bold Names Line Up Behind Rubio, a.k.a. "The GOP's Barack Obama"

  Warning to anyone who wants to believe MSNBC reporter Carlos Watson's recent profile of Marco Rubio, in which the former House Speaker is praised as the "GOP's Barack Obama": It's a trap!  Watson, a Miami native, proclaims, "He's young. He's attractive. He easily connects with crowds. Remind you of anyone we know? Ten-to-one, this guy will soon be labeled the GOP's Barack Obama." Naked Politics has the transcripts of the feature. Back in hi

  June 19, 2009

• Marco Rubio Gets Key Sky Diver Support

  The Buzz posted this photo of some guy who jumped out of a plane in support of Marco Rubio that they found on Facebook. We often call some of Rubio's more fervent supporters wingnuts, but this guy has taken it quite literally taping Rubio bumper sticker to his "wings," in nutty fashion. Amazing joke! 

  June 22, 2009

• Mike Huckabee Endorses Marco Rubio

    Word that this endorsement might be coming has been in the pipeline for weeks, but now it's official: Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee has endorsed Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for Senate. Huckabee's endorsement is as much a celebration of all things Rubio as it is a few jabs at Rubio's competitor, Charlie Crist, most specifically his support of President Obama's stimulus plan. Rubio supprted Huckabee in the 2008 preside

  June 23, 2009

• News Roundup

  A Super Cab driver was shot in a burglary attempt early this morning. He's recovering at Jackson Memorial. [CBS4] A venomous lionfish was caught off the coast of Miami. They're not very big, but their habit of eating everything makes them a threat to ecosystems. [Herald] The neighborhood surrounding the old Orange Bowl site (and new Marlins stadium) has been cited as the third most violent neighborhood in America. [NBCMiami] CBS4's and the Herald's attempt to unseal the arrest affidavit o

  June 24, 2009

• McCollum Has Eight-Point Advantage Over Sink; Crist Still on Top

  Last time we checked in on the polling digits, Quinnipiac claimed Democratic CFO Alex Sink had a four-point lead over Republican AG Bill McCollum, but the latest poll from Rasmussen shows quite a different race. Its numbers show McCollum leading Sink 42-34 percent, with 18 percent still undecided. McCollum is beloved by men, polling 51 to Sink's 36 percent. While women are evenly divided. McCollum also leads independent voters 38 to 22 percent. Over in the Senate ra

  June 25, 2009

• Super-Hot Senate Poll Action: No One Likes Corrine Brown

  Mason-Dixon released another Senate poll, and like every single 2010 Florida Senate poll before it, it finds Charlie Crist is far and away the frontrunner. Ninety-seven percent recognize Crist's name, and 49 percent of regular voters find him favorable. Marco Rubio is raising his statewide name recognition: 53 percent of voters recall his name, but only 18 percent find him favorable; 11 percent find him unfavorable. It goes without saying that Crist is still trouncing Rubio.Here's the good new

  June 29, 2009

• Daily Kos Has Wet Dream About Charlie Crist Coming Out as a Democrat

  Markos 'Kos' Moulitsas of The Daily Kos has a dream that one day Charlie Crist will do some soul searching, look deep inside himself, and finally come out ...as a Democrat. And it will all be Marco Rubio's fault. See, Marco Rubio is calling upon the dark forces of the right wing --the wingnut blogs, the garbage spewing talk radio hosts, the ideological PACs and interest groups-- to create a tsunami that will ruin Crist's good name amongst Republicans, thus causing him to lose the

  July 1, 2009

• Diaz-Balart Brothers Endorse Crist over Rubio

  Marco Rubio can collect all the endorsements of the Mike Huckabees and Jim DeMints of the world he wants, but Charlie Crist seems to be wracking up support from politicians who have been actually voted into office the Florida electorate. Today, Crist's campaign announced the backing of Miami-area Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart. The endorsement gives Crist inroads into Miami's Cuban-American Republicans, a segment Rubio will need to win if he hopes to make it past the Rep

  July 6, 2009

• News Roundup

  MDC's Wolfson Campus will hold a public screening of the Michael Jackson Memorial today. [Herald]Someone went on a car vandalizing spree in Hialeah. [CBS4]Charlie Crist has a pretty humble net worth for a high-profile politician. [NakedPolitics]Meanwhile, Marco Rubio is $900,000 in debt. [NakedPolitics]A new park-and-ride lot will open in Cutler Bay. [SFBJ]Halle Berry is in town, y'all. [BuzzNet]Paris Hilton will be back in a Miami courtroom Thursday as part of her legal tangling with the pr

  July 7, 2009

• Marco Rubio Gets Support of the Dick Armey

  I know it's so easy to make fun of Dick Armey's name (Vagina Coastguard, thanks Family Guy), that even Dick Armey has done it himself. Dave Barry, of all people, once asked Armey if that was really his name. "Yes, I am Dick Armey. And if there is a dick army, Barney Frank would want to join up," Armey replied. Frank, of course, is the openly gay congressman from New York. He also likes making fun of other people's names. He once said Barack Obama's name could "give people concerns that he

  July 14, 2009

• News Roundup

  County Mayor Carlos Alvarez is now proposing sweeping pay cuts for municipal workers. [Herald]Marco Rubio finds it just hurtful and disrespectful when you whisper things about him behind is back ...like that he may drop out of the senate race and run for AG. [NakedPolitics]West 8 has officially been accepted as the design firm replacing Frank Gehry on that Miami Beach park project. [Herald]The Miami Heat Dancers are holding auditions. You know I'm working on my coochie up'n'downs as we speak. &n

  July 16, 2009

• News Roundup

  Police think a former business associate of Byrd and Melanie Billings may have paid to have them murdered. [DailyBeast]A 34 year-old man was shot early this morning at a self service car wash that is practically across the street from our office. Yikes. [Herald]Marco Rubio is wondering why Charlie Crist would not vote for "activist judge" Sotomayor, when all he does is appoint "activist judges" to Florida's supreme court. [Buzz]The town of Fort Myers Beach fired their town manager because his wi

  July 23, 2009

• Marco Rubio Without a Campaign Manager

  Marco Rubio's valiant fight to reclaim the GOP for people who refresh the Free Republic website all day and attend tea parties with "Obama Is a Socialist" signs isn't going so well financialy. So much so he's been forced to drop his campaign manager, Brian Seitchik, and top fundraiser, Ann Herberger, from the payroll. But they'll still carry own as volunteers. From the St. Pete Times: "Due to budgetary and monetary constraints, I am becoming a volunteer consultant,'' Herberger said. "I

  July 24, 2009

• Will Marco Rubio Lead The March of Conservatives out of the GOP?

  ​If there's one point Riptide has been consistently making about Marco Rubio is that his values and policies are more in line with the right-wing, super-conservative blogosphere then they are with Florida voters. He pretty much hammered that point home this weekend by speaking at the RedState Gathering. RedState.com being something of a conservative antithesis of grass roots, liberal blog The Daily Kos. You might remember Kos head honcho Markos Moulitsas theorizing that Charlie Crist does

  August 3, 2009

• Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek Simply Do Not Care for This LeMieux Character

  ​Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek have only a few things in common: They're both running for Senate. They'll both likely face Charlie Crist. They'll both likely lose to him. And now they both don't very much like George LeMieux's status as newly minted senator. Politically, this is just about the only thing you could ever expect them to agree on. Here's Rubio's reaction, in which he calls LeMieux Charlie Crist's BFF: "This is a disappointing appointment for Florida. George LeM

  August 28, 2009

• Rubio Web Ad Takes Crist out of Context

  Hey, look, it's another Marco Rubio web ad. This one starts out well, listing all the problems Florida's economy faces and prepares to point the finger squarely at the governor, who's Goliath to Rubio's David in the Florida Republican Senate primary. But then the Rubio team relies on a bit of dirty editing trickery. It appears Crist says unemployment and foreclosures are "not that big of a deal, to be honest." In fact, Charlie was merely telling his Squawk Box interviewer that the recent di

  September 8, 2009

• Personhood Amendment Could Outlaw Birth Control Pills

  The Florida Personhood Amendment we wrote about last week would not only outlaw abortion in the state, but also potentially ban birth control pills and other forms of contraception.The American Life League, one of the main groups behind the push (when it's not busy printing tacky "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" signs) says on its website: "the pill will irritate the lining of the uterus so that the newly formed human being cannot attach to his/her mother's womb and dies. This is called a

  September 15, 2009

• Poll: Rubio Inching Closer to Crist in Primary, but Can He Beat Meek?

  The big news in the latest Quinnipiac poll is that conservative wonder boy Marco Rubio has cut Charlie Crist's lead in the Republican primary in half. But the poll also has the first theoretical head-to-head matchup of Democrat Kendrick Meek against Rubio in the general election, and Meek wins. I'm sure Rubio supporters are savoring their polling gains, but perhaps not as much as Democrats. In August, 55 percent of registered Republicans favored Crist, while only 26 percent lined up be

  October 21, 2009

• The Rubio-Crist Race Gets the Hitler Downfall Meme Treatment

  Downfall was a pretty good movie about the pathetic, increasingly insane last days of Adolf Hitler, so the film major in me doesn't really know what to make of the fact it's best known as an internet meme.The spoofs have been popping up online for years, and The New York Times Magazine documented the phenomenon a year ago:By adding new English-language subtitles, they transform the movie's climactic scene, in which Hitler (played by Bruno Ganz) rails against his enemies and reluctantly faces hi

  October 28, 2009

• News Roundup

  GeneralBoston-area investor Dennis Stackhouse has been arrested and charged with bilking almost $1 million from a county-supported plan to build a biotech business park in Liberty City. [Herald]After a large amount of cases of swine flu this past spring, there haven't been many cases reported in Miami-Dade this fall, but they still might come, so clutch your Purell bottle in fear. [Herald]Hialeah Racetrack will reopen within a month. [CBS4]Burger King's earnings and sales are down. [Bloomberg]Po

  October 29, 2009

• News Roundup

  Hurricane Ida is heading for the Gulf of Mexico. [CBS4]A pilot is dead after crashing his small plane in the Everglades last night. [NBCMiami]PoliticsMarco Rubio's record in the State House isn't nearly as conservative as he'd have you believe. It's almost like it's difficult to be a true conservative in this state, because perhaps, the voters of Florida are not truly conservatives. [SPTimes]Rubio also says he's a hard liner on immigration, but blocked a lot of hardline immigration bills as spea

  November 9, 2009

• Why Do Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio Continue To Hide Their Love?

  via Dem Underground​All of Florida is wondering when Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio will come out and make it official. They are totally in political love, but why won't Jeb put a ring on it by endorsing Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist in the Senate primary? Years ago, things weren't so hush-hush. During Rubio's House Speaker swearing-in ceremony, Bush unsheathed his big, powerful, gold sword and bestowed it upon Rubio's eager hands. Seriously."I'm going to bestow to you the sword of a great

  November 10, 2009

• Dear Florida Media: Not Every Stupid Political YouTube Video is News

  Just weeks after much too much of Florida's political establishment and media took a dumb Crist/Rubio remix of an old YouTube meme way too seriously, there's another stupid YouTube video that certain journalists, it seems, are forcibly trying to turn into a controversy. It's a ridiculous anti-Rubio ad that somehow tries to paint Rubio as a secret Democrat lover. The evidence: Barack Obama once said his name at a CANF event, and in his former-role as a political commenter for Univision he ma

  November 11, 2009

• Crist Gets Slammed for Playing the 'Race Card' by Rubio-friendly Bloggers

  In regards to the stupid YouTube video we talked about Wednesday, popular conservative Blogger Erik Erikson of RedState.com declares that Charlie Crist is playing the race card. Here's the Headline: "Charlie Crist Finally Pulls Race Card. Jealous of Rubio's Better Tan.""The video shows Marco Rubio speaking in Spanish, then has a clip of Barack Obama referring to Marco Rubio as a Cuban, then says no way "WE" can trust Rubio. Really? Because he's Cuban? Really?," writes Erikson.Another blogge

  November 13, 2009

• Rubio Says Reagan Was Wrong on Immigration

  ​You know a candidate is really serious about painting himself as a hardcore conservative when he tries to place himself to the right of Right Wing Deity Ronald Reagan. But that's exactly what Marco Rubio did today, by declaring that the Gipper's support of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was a bad move. The act (which, by the way, was signed when Rubio was 15) made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but also granted amnesty to some 2.7 mill

  November 17, 2009

• New Daily Kos Poll: Rubio Narrows Crist's GOP Lead Thanks to Birthers, Still Can't Beat Meek in General

  Daily Kos/Research 2000 just released their latest Florida poll, and there are a lot of interesting little poll number factoids to be pulled. Riptide tends to have some smart readers, so we won't recap the entire poll, but instead let's mine some of our favorite nuggets. The Senate Race:Republican Primary: Charlie Crist now only leads Marco Rubio by 10 points!73% of Republicans who think President Obama was born in America would vote for Crist, only 16% would vote for Rubio. These are

  November 19, 2009