Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Wednesday, becoming the latest big-name Republican to throw his support behind the likely Republican nominee.
Rubio, considered by many to be the favorite for the GOP’s vice presidential nomination, declined to endorse before the Florida primary earlier this year. But he said Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News Channel that it’s time to coalesce around Romney.
It’s increasingly clear that Mitt Romney’s gonna be the Republican nominee,” Rubio said. “We’ve got to come together behind who I think has earned this nomination and that’s Mitt Romney.”
Rubio added: “I have zero doubt in my mind of two things: No. 1, that Mitt Romney will govern as a conservative, and No. 2, that he will be head and shoulders better than the guy who’s in the White House now.”
Romney tweeted following Rubio’s appearance: “Ann joins me in thanking @MarcoRubio for the confidence he is placing in my leadership and for the great honor he has done me today.”
While Rubio didn’t endorse Romney before Florida’s primary, he did give the former Massachusetts governor a boost by criticizing a Newt Gingrich ad that cast Romney as “anti-immigrant.”
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, follows closely on the heels of another big-name Florida Republican, former governor Jeb Bush, in backing Romney. Bush endorsed Romney last week.
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4 Responses
Rubio sold out his conservative principles with this endorsement — if he had any. Case closed.
Rubio and other conservatives have no choice but to endorse Romney, as there is no one else to endorse. Newt is gone, and Santorum is not far behind. We can only hope to the Ribono Shel Olam that Romney will act and govern as a conservative, and will be able to trounce that jerk in the White House!
Romney actually is a conservative. Just because he dresses like a Preppie (he was one, at least for high school), and has good manners (Mormons are rather fussy about that), does NOT means he’s a raving liberal.
Santorum (and Obama) want to debate social issues, while the rest of the country are worried about economics (and Mitt is probably closer to Tea Party than to being a Rockefeller Republican). Gingrich is off on an ego trip. Paul’s libertarian and isolationist views are more extreme than most people are ready for.
Rubio to make an impact has to find a way for Romney to reject the anti-Hispanic tone on immigration, and switch to a pro-legal immigration tone that separates illegals from the broader issue of America needing immigrants, be they venture capitalists or cleaning ladies.
akuperma,
Why do you lie? Santorum ha not spoken much on social issues since the initial States. It was that liberal hack Stephanopoulos that brought it up, and Obama-Sebelius who decided to run roughshod over the Free Exercise Clause.
Your discourses on Romney’s conservatism and Santorum’s being the candidate only for the evangelicals can best be summed up using that word Rick used with Jeff Zeleny. Mitt is Rockefeller through and through, not a Tea Partier. The other things — Rubio’s conservatism, Gingrich’s egomania, and Paul’s reactionism — I agree with you on. But I do not agree re Romney and Santorum.