Politics

Marco Rubio isn’t playing the endorsement game yet

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Marco Rubio knows the value of a good endorsement, but he’s not playing that game yet with the new crop of conservatives running in Republican primaries for the U.S. Senate.

The popular freshman Republican senator from Florida, viewed by many as a rising star in the party, hasn’t made a single endorsement in a 2012 Senate GOP primary yet.

“No decisions have been made,” spokesman Alex Conant told The Daily Caller when asked when Rubio will start offering support to Republicans across the country.

Rubio’s apparent reluctance to endorse Republicans running in primaries is notable because the Floridian knows from his own race for the U.S. Senate how endorsements from influential conservatives can help.

In 2009, Rubio was mounting an insurgent primary campaign against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who had the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington, D.C., as well as a commanding lead in the polls.

By June, Republican South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who made a point of supporting conservatives challenging Republicans he viewed as too moderate, endorsed Rubio, as did other conservatives and tea party supporters across the country.

It wasn’t long until Rubio began to rise in the polls, forcing Crist to leave the GOP party and run as an independent. Rubio went on to win the election.

Fast forward to today, and an endorsement from Rubio, who is frequently mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket in 2012, would be a helpful boost and welcomed by plenty of GOP candidates trying to be part of the next wave of conservative senators.

There are several obvious candidates who could benefit from Rubio’s blessing, including Ted Cruz, a conservative Cuban-American often compared to Rubio, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas and fighting an uphill battle against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Other tea party senators who, like Rubio, were elected in 2010, have already endorsed Cruz: Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint has also endorsed him.

And in Rubio’s home state of Florida, there’s a contest brewing in the Republican field between former State Rep. Adam Hasner, who has been endorsed by the tea party-aligned group FreedomWorks, and former Sen. George LeMieux.

But Conant said Rubio will stay out of that Florida contest and not endorse any candidate during the primary.

As for other races, Conant said, “I wouldn’t rule it out in other states.”

Rubio has a political action committee, Reclaim America PAC, though it doesn’t appear to be very active at this point.

“It’s been raising money, but it hasn’t made endorsements yet,” Conant said.

In June, Rubio also told TheDC that he won’t back any Republican during the 2012 presidential primary.

“I’m not going to be endorsing in the primary for the presidential, but once we have the nominee, I’ll do anything they ask us to do,” Rubio said.

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