Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, reacting on Fox News this morning to Wednesday’s House hearing on September’s Benghazi terrorist attack, faulted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for not speaking out against the Obama administration’s initial suggestion that the deadly attack was prompted by demonstrations over a crudely produced anti-Islamic YouTube video.

Rubio said the administration pushed the YouTube story because President Barack Obama “was in the middle of his re-election and one of his talking points was that terrorism has been defeated and he had defeated it, and this ran counter of that narrative.”

Later, Rubio added: “What I think is sad is how many people are around the administration — including the former Secretary of State, Secretary Clinton — knew this to be the case, and allowed this to move forward anyway. You would’ve hoped that people would have stepped up and said this was wrong and the American people deserve the truth. That didn’t happen.”

Rubio and Clinton both figure prominently in the 2016 presidential chatter of their respective parties. They faced off over Benghazi during a January Senate hearing, but their exchange didn’t produce fireworks.

The January hearing is best remembered for Clinton’s “What difference at this point does it make?” response after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., repeatedly asked her why the administration didn’t abandon the YouTube story earlier.

Former President George W. Bush, in an ABC News interview, says his younger brother Jeb Bush would be a “marvelous” candidate if the former Florida governor decides to run for president in 2016.

“He would be a marvelous candidate if he chooses to do so. He doesn’t need my counsel because he knows what it is, which is ‘Run!’ ” Bush told Diane Sawyer. “But whether he does or not, it’s a very personal decision.”

The former president said the possibility of a Jeb Bush-Hillary Clinton contest in 2016 will make for “a fantastic photo here” at today’s opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University near Dallas. Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton are expected to be on hand, along with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Florida voters favor Democrat Hillary Clinton as a 2016 presidential candidate over Sunshine State Republicans Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

By a 51-to-44 percent margin, Floridians say they support “stricter gun control laws,” with 91 percent favoring background checks for all gun buyers, 56 percent favoring an ban on “assault weapons” and 53 percent favoring a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

When asked “Who do you think better reflects your views on guns, President Obama or the National Rifle Association?” 45 percent chose the NRA and 44 percent chose Obama — a virtual tie considering the poll’s 3.1 percent margin of error.

By a 57-to-33 percent margin, Florida voters said gun ownership “does more to protect people from becoming victims of crime” rather than “put people’s safety at risk.” By a 60-to-31 percent margin, respondents said allowing the ownership of assault weapons makes the country more dangerous.

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U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, told Hillary Clinton this afternoon that he hopes her final hearing as Secretary of State doesn’t mark the end of her career in public service.

Clinton appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee this afternoon after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the morning about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others.

Clinton faced criticism from Republicans and friendly questioning from Democrats on both panels.

“I’d like to thank you for the truly remarkable job that you’ve done as Secretary of State,” Deutch told Clinton at the beginning of his questioning. “You have represented the interests of this nation magnificently and I for one hope that after a bit of rest you will consider a return to public service and should that return bring you to Florida I will look forward to welcoming you there.”

Deutch was a major supporter of Clinton during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Sept. 11 terrorist attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others, Sen. Marco Rubio‘s office has already posted video of the Florida Republican’s questioning of Clinton from earlier this morning.

UPDATED with Rooney response after the jump…

U.S. Sen. John McCain took to the floor of the Senate today to blast suggestions by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and four other House Republicans that a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Without mentioning Rooney or his colleagues by name, McCain slammed the “specious and degrading attacks” against Huma Abedin, who is Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and is also the wife of former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Rooney last month joined an effort led by Minnesota Rep. and former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to seek investigations into “serious questions” about the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in five federal entities that deal with national security.

Letters to the agencies were signed by Bachmann, Rooney and Republican Reps. Trent Franks of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia.

“The Muslim Brotherhood openly calls for violence against the United States, but we’re learning that this organization may be infiltrating our ranks, even within our military,” Rooney said in a June 13 press release when the letters were sent.

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Whoever wins the 2012 Republican presidential nomination can carry Florida if he adds Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate, according to a new poll by Suffolk University in Massachusetts.

The poll of 800 Florida voters has a 3.5 percent margin for error and was conducted Oct. 26-30 — after news stories detailed that Rubio’s Cuban-born parents came to the U.S. before Fidel Castro‘s 1959 takeover rather than afterward, as Rubio’s official Senate biography stated.

In a Rubio-free scenario, the poll found Mitt Romney as the strongest GOP nominee against President Obama in Florida. Obama and Romney tied at 42 percent in a hypothetical matchup. Obama beat Herman Cain by a 42-to-39 percent margin and Rick Perry by a 46-to-34 percent margin.

When respondents were asked to choose between an Obama-Joe Biden ticket and a nameless Republican nominee with Rubio as running mate, the GOP tandem won by a 46-to-41 percent margin.

But an Obama-Hillary Clinton ticket would beat a nameless Republican-Rubio ticket by a 46-to-43 percent margin in Florida, the poll says. And Obama and Clinton would win 50-to-41 against a hypothetical GOP ticket without Rubio.

Says Suffolk’s David Paleologos: “In Florida, Marco Rubio is Superman, but Hillary Clinton is the Kryptonite.”

The poll found the GOP presidential primary race virtually tied, with Romney leading Cain by a 25-to-24 percent margin