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Marco Rubio

Marco Antonio Rubio

PHOENIX (By Wikipedia) March 23, 2010 ― Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, born May 28, 1971, is a Cuban-American politician and lawyer. Rubio was the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives during the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions. He was first elected to the Florida House as a Republican on January 25, 2000, from the 111th district. He is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by George LeMieux.

Rubio was born in Miami, Florida, the son of exiles from Cuba. He is a Roman Catholic and is fluent in Spanish. His father was a bartender and his mother in hotel housekeeping in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rubio lived in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1979 to 1985, though his family returned to Miami in the summer of 1985. Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School and graduated in 1989. He then attended Tarkio College for one year on a football scholarship from 1989 to 1990 before enrolling at Santa Fe Community College and the University of Florida. He received his B.S. from the University of Florida in 1993 and his J.D. Cum Laude from the University of Miami in 1996. While studying law, he interned for Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Rubio is married to Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader (1997) of Colombian descent, and they have four children together: Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominick. Rubio and his family live in West Miami, Florida.

Marco Rubio served as a City Commissioner for West Miami before being elected to the House of Representatives for the 111th District in a special election on Jan. 25, 2000 and won repeated re-election.[1] In November 2006, he was elected Speaker of the Florida State House for the 2006-2008 term.

He is best known for his book 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future. The book was compiled from Rubio's travels around the state to gather ideas from citizens. This was done through what Rubio calls "Idearaisers". Many of the issues that he pushed for in his first year as speaker came from ideas in this book.

During 2007, Marco Rubio championed a major overhaul of the Florida tax system. He argued it would reduce property taxes and decrease the size of government. While his effort stalled, it created enough debate within the Florida Legislature to pass a more modest plan supported by Governor Charles Crist.
Rubio speaking at CPAC in February 2010.

On May 5, 2009, Rubio announced on his website that he planned to run for the United States Senate in 2010 for the Republican seat being vacated by George LeMieux. Prior to the announcement, he had been meeting with fundraisers and supporters throughout the state. Initially trailing by double-digits against the incumbent Governor of his own party, Rubio is now considered a front-runner for the Republican nomination according to recent aggregate polling.

Rubio continues to lengthen his lead over Governor Charlie Crist in the contest for Florida’s Republican Senate nomination.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Republican Primary voters finds Rubio leading Crist by 18 points, 54% to 36%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent are undecided.

Those figures reflect a five point increase in support for Rubio compared to a month ago. Support for Crist has changed little over the past month.

In December, the two GOP hopefuls were tied at 43% apiece. The new findings mark Rubio’s best showing to date and Crist’s worst. The good news for Crist is that Florida Republicans don’t pick their nominee until an August 24 primary.

Crist, an early favorite in the race, was the choice of the party establishment but angered conservatives when he was one of the few Republicans to embrace President Obama’s $787-billion economic stimulus plan. Rubio, initially a long-shot contender, was quickly embraced by the so-called Tea Party movement, and Crist’s support has been falling ever since. He was at 53% in August but fell to 49% in October. Since then, a number of prominent national conservatives have endorsed Rubio’s candidacy.

In the state’s general election content, both Rubio and Crist have large leads over likely Democratic nominee, Congressman Kendrick Meek. Rasmussen Reports will release new numbers on the overall Senate race tomorrow.

Rubio now carries male GOP voters by a two-to-one margin but break even with Crist among women. The governor also breaks even among moderate Republicans, but conservatives in the party favor his challenger now by more than 40 points.

It’s telling that Florida Republican Primary voters are now evenly divided over Crist’s performance as governor. Forty-eight percent (48%) approve of the job he is doing, down eight points from January, but 49% don’t approve.

Those numbers included eight percent (8%) who strongly approve of how Crist is governing and 20% who strongly disapprove. Keep in mind that those figures are among Primary Voters in the Governor’s own political party.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of likely primary voters have a favorable view of Crist. This marks an eight-point drop from the previous survey. Sixteen percent (16%) now view him very favorably. Forty-four percent (44%) of Republican voters in the state now have an unfavorable view of the incumbent GOP governor, including 14% whose view is very unfavorable. Only two percent (2%) have no opinion of him.

By comparison, favorables for Rubio total 67% percent, including 34% who have a very favorable opinion of the Cuban-American politician. Only 15% view him unfavorably, including four percent (4%) with a very unfavorable opinion. But 18% still don’t know enough about him to have an opinion one way or the other.

Both men are vying to be the Republican nominee in this year’s race to fill the seat originally vacated by retiring GOP Senator Mel Martinez. Last August, Crist as governor named his chief of staff, George LeMiuex, to serve the remainder of Martinez’s term, but LeMieux is not running for a full term.