The absence of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, at the conference that solidified his celebrity last year, was inaccurately reported as a sign of conservative dissent. Jim DeMint had skipped the conference; Rubio was a protege. Was this a sign of a broader revolt?
Nah. Rubio, in Florida for public meetings, is largely following the classic Senate strategy of the rising star: Keeping his head down. He participated in CPAC with a pre-taped speech . And it was clever in the way it discussed the conference.
I want to congratulate a fellow Floridian Al Cardenas on his new role with CPAC. I know he’ll do a great job. And finally I want to congratulate another fellow Floridian, and that’s the blogger of the year, Javier Manharris and the Shark Tank who covered our race from the very beginning and believed we had a chance to win when others did not.
Cardenas, famously, had supported Charlie Crist over Rubio in the primary.
