Sen. Marco Rubio‘s Reclaim America PAC is buying TV time in New Hampshire to defend Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who has drawn some criticism for voting against a gun background checks measure in the Senate.

Ayotte isn’t up for re-election until 2016. Rubio is a potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate. New Hampshire is a key early primary state. Rubio does not appear in the 30-second ad and isn’t mentioned in it.

Amid reports that the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups was known by upper-level officials as far back as 2011, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio today urged Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to demand the resignation of the IRS commissioner.

Rubio’s letter to Lew and the press release put out by Rubio’s office don’t name the IRS commissioner. The agency is now headed Steven Miller, who has served as acting commissioner since November. For the previous six years — which included the time groups with “tea party” and “patriot” in their names were targeted — the IRS was headed by George W. Bush appointee Douglas Shulman.

“The American people deserve answers about how such seemingly unconstitutional and potentially criminal behavior could occur, and who else was aware of it throughout the Administration,” Rubio’s letter to Lew says. “If investigations reveal that bureaucrats or political appointees engaged in unconstitutional or criminal targeting of conservative taxpayers, they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Read the full text of Rubio’s letter after the jump…

(more…)

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.

Supporters and opponents of the bipartisan immigration reform bill championed by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio took to the streets near Rubio’s Palm Beach Gardens office today.

At about 12:30 p.m., PostOnPolitics counted 23 supporters of the bill near the corner of PGA Boulevard and Military Trail and 13 opponents less than half a mile away in front of Rubio’s office. The outnumbered opponents scored higher in drive-by eye appeal, however, by bringing an “Amnesty Is Death To America” skeleton prop.

Tea party activists organized the protest outside Rubio’s office and delivered a Rubio aide a letter expressing concern about the legislation’s long-term costs. A study released by the conservative Heritage Foundation this week contends that, over 50 years, the bill would be a net drain of $6.3 trillion on federal coffers. Rubio has disputed the study, saying it fails to account for the dynamic economic effect the new citizens would have over the coming decades.

“Secure the borders first. If you secure the borders, then we could understand a little bit more and go forward from there,” said Mel Grossman of the Palm Beach County Tea Party. Grossman said the current bill leaves too much discretion to the Department of Homeland Security, which he said has failed to take illegal border crossings seriously.

Supporters of the bill — including the Service Employees International Union, the President Barack Obama-affiliated Organizing For Action, the Florida Immigrant Coalition and Florida New Majority — organized their counter-demonstration after hearing about the tea party plans.

“They’re trying to scare all these bipartisan Republicans who are taking a moderate approach….We are showing that there are two groups. There is a minority group who is against immigration reform, but a majority of Americans are for immigration reform,” said Florida SEIU’s Afifa Khaliq.

Back when Marco Rubio was a long shot anti-establishment Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2009, the William F. Buckley-founded National Review certified him as a national conservative star by featuring him on its cover.

It helped boost Rubio’s fundraising and popularity with GOP primary voters.

He eventually overtook heavily favored Gov. Charlie Crist in Republican primary polls, sending Crist to a failed no-party Senate bid and, eventually, the Democratic Party.

The National Review isn’t showing Rubio any love with it’s latest cover, calling his push for bipartisan immigration reform “Rubio’s Folly” and depicting him yukking it up with two figures who are reviled by many on the right — Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona

PORT ST. LUCIE — At least 25 foes of immigration reform were protesting in the rain before Republican Sen. Marco Rubio arrived here to speak at tonight’s St. Lucie County GOP Lincoln Day dinner.

Members of the group Floridians for Immigration Enforcement say Rubio is breaking a 2010 campaign promise to oppose amnesty because Rubio has become a key supporter of legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship for people who are now in the country illegally.

“I expended shoe leather and time and energy helping Marco Rubio become the senator in Florida and now he’s gone back on his campaign promises on amnesty,” said Ed Bender of Pompano Beach. “You want to call it a path to citizenship…the net result is people get to call themselves citizens on some level and the reality of it is billions and billions of additional dollars that this country does not have to support new citizens.”

Rubio, in a brief interview with the Politics column before his speech, said the bill he and other members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” have drafted does not grant amnesty to the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

“I think their definition of amnesty is anything that doesn’t deport 11 million people. And I say ‘theirs’ – that specific group, I’m not saying everybody has that same definition,” Rubio said of the demonstrators.

“When you’re asking someone to pay a $2,000 fine, an application fee, undergo a background check and a national security background check and all the other elements that are involved in this and wait 10 years before they can even apply for a Green Card and not qualify for any federal benefits – when you’re asking someone to go through all of that, that’s not amnesty. That’s a significant undertaking,” Rubio said.

Rubio has repeatedly called the Senate legislation a “starting point” and says he’s open to amendments and changes to the bill.

“I never pretended that eight senators could come up with a piece of legislation that we could offer to everyone as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition,” Rubio said.

To win support in the Republican-controlled House, Rubio said, “I think where we still need to do a little bit of work is on firming up the border security things to ensure that the border security happens.”

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio‘s efforts to assuage the concerns of the right on immigration reform haven’t worked with Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, a group based in the Treasure Coast that plans to protest Wednesday when Rubio speaks at the St. Lucie County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner.

Rubio is part of the bipartisan Gang of Eight that drafted a reform bill that would create a 13-year path to citizenship for people who are now in the country illegally. Critics accuse Rubio of supporting amnesty — something Rubio has criticized in the past and says he’s not supporting now.

Rubio’s immigration stance also puts him at odds with mentor and former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, whose June 2009 endorsement of then-underdog Rubio helped establish Rubio’s conservative bona fides and sent him on his way to overtaking Charlie Crist for the 2010 GOP Senate nomination. DeMint now heads the Heritage Foundation, which is gearing up to oppose the immigration bill.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio‘s attempts to get conservatives to support — or at least not vehemently oppose — immigration reform continued Tuesday night with an appearance on Sean Hannity‘s Fox News show.

Rubio played on the right’s dislike of President Barack Obama, arguing that the administration has done a poor job of handling of border security and contending that passing immigration reform would force the administration to get tougher.

“I think people have a good reason to be skeptical about immigration reform at the outset, because this administration has not done a good job of enforcing the law. What I have found over the last few days is that one of the biggest obstacles we face here is a lack of trust in the administration’s willingness to enforce the law,” Rubio told Hannity.

“But my point is, if we don’t do anything, that’s exactly what you are leaving in place. The only way that I know how to make the administration, this administration or a future administration, secure the border, is to pass a law that forces them to secure the border. And that’s what I’m working on, and that’s what our bill does. It requires them to spend upwards of 5.5 billion dollars on a border security plan, on a fencing plan. In addition to that, it requires the full implementation of e-verify. It requires the full implementation of an entry-exit tracking system. That is just so much better than what we have in place right now. And so, if we don’t do anything, or if we can’t get those things done, then what stays in place is what we have right now. How is that good for us?”

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West lost his re-election bid in November, but he still has the ability to set Facebook ablaze.

Republican West, whose Facebook page has 268,074 “likes,” made two Facebook posts on Sunday complaining about a $166 traffic citation he received earlier in the day at the PGA Boulevard exit on Florida’s Turnpike. According to West, he stopped to pay his toll in a lane that was closed, backed up his car to get into another lane and was cited for an illegal lane change.

As of 1 p.m. today, West’s two citation-related posts had received a combined 22,450 likes, been shared 3,945 times and generated 10,059 comments — pro and con.

By comparison, a pair of Sunday Facebook posts on Republican Sen. Marco Rubio‘s page about his seven TV appearances to discuss immigration reform generated a combined 6,247 likes, 842 shares and 1,393 comments.

Rubio’s Facebook page has 454,848 likes, far outdistancing West. But West remains a much bigger Facebook presence than Gov. Rick Scott (82,432 likes) or Democratic National Chairwoman and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (72,537) or Sen. Bill Nelson (16,219 likes) or West’s replacement, Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy (15,050).

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.

(more…)

Quinnipiac University and the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling have both released Florida survey results this week that find dismal approval ratings for Republican Gov. Rick Scott and encouraging numbers for Republican-turned-independent-turned Democratic former Gov. Charlie Crist if he challenges Scott in 2014.

A Quinnipiac poll released today finds Scott has a net disapproval rating of 13 percent; a PPP survey released Tuesday puts him 24 points underwater in its measure of voter approval. Quinnipiac says Crist would beat Scott by a 50-to-34 percent margin; PPP gives Crist a 52-to-40 percent advantage.

But the firms offer widely divergent data on how Florida voters feel about the state’s two U.S. Senators — Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson.

Quinnipiac’s numbers suggest both Rubio and Nelson are doing well. Rubio’s approval/disapproval score is 48/33, with independent voters approving of the way he handles his job by a 45-to-28 percent margin. Nelson has a 49/28 approval/disapproval score in Quinnipiac’s new poll, with independents approving by a 45-to-27 percent margin.

PPP tells a much different story in a survey released this afternoon. The firm found 44 percent approving and 43 percent disapproving of Rubio. Nelson’s score was worse, with 38 percent approval and 40 percent disapproval. Both ratings are well within the poll’s 4.4 percent margin of error.

OXON HILL, Md. — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, in a speech widely seen as an early audition for a potential 2016 presidential run, got big applause from the Conservative Political Action Conference today when he defended traditional marriage and voiced opposition to abortion.

Rubio is best known for his economic and fiscal stances and efforts to soften the GOP’s hard-line stance on immigration. But he got big cheers when he weighed in briefly on social issues.

“I respect people that disagree with me on certain things, but they have to respect me, too,” Rubio said.

“Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot. Just because we believe that life, all life, all human life is worthy of protection at every stage of its development does not make you a chauvinist,” Rubio said.

“In fact, the people who are actually close-minded in American politics are people that love to preach about the certainty of science with regards to our climate but ignore the absolute fact that science has proven that life begins at conception,” Rubio said.

Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul spoke back-to-back at the conservative gathering. Other potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates on the three-day CPAC schedule include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and part-time Palm Beacher Donald Trump.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — potential 2016 GOP presidential rivals — will be in Palm Beach next week for separate fundraisers before heading to Coral Gables for a weekend with top Republican National Committee donors.

Christie, who’s up for re-election this year in the Garden State, will attend a $3,800-a-head cocktail reception on March 7 at the home of Jana and John Scarpa.

Rubio is slated to raise money the following night for his Rubio Victory Committee with a $1,000 cocktail reception at the home of Jim and Dot Patterson and a $10,000-a-person dinner at the home of Pepe Fanjul, according to the esteemed Michele Dargan in The Palm Beach Daily News.

On March 9 and 10, Rubio and Christie will be at The Biltmore in Coral Gables for an RNC event that also features former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Texas Sen. and tea party superstar Ted Cruz.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush returned Thursday to the Florida Capitol for one of his few visits since his two terms as chief executive ended six years ago.

Bush, who now leads foundations that advance education policies similar to those he signed into law as governor, met behind closed doors with House and Senate members, frequently posing for pictures with lawmakers. Many had entered the Legislature since Bush left office.

Bush, however, insisted he came to Tallahassee without specific proposals to push.

“We provide assistance to people who want to advocate education reform policies, the Legislature is about ready to start,” Bush said outside Senate President Don Gaetz’s office. “I’m here to say hello to some friends and advance the cause of rising student achievement.”

Bush said he conveyed identical messages to lawmakers he encountered.

“Be big. Be bold. Fill the space,” Bush said.

Although Bush’s stop at the Capitol was his first since 2010, he still has plenty of allies. Fellow Republican, Gov. Rick Scott, is promoting changes to expand enrollment in charter schools.

House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has pushing for expanding online education in Florida, a concept now being studied by state university officials. He also has created a new education Choice and Innovation Subcommittee charged with exploring more charter-, virtual- and home-school options.

Legislation introduced this week in the Senate also would let parents in low-performing schools call for a private-management company to take over. A similar “parent trigger” bill died on a 20-20 vote last year in the Senate. But Bush said his Foundation for Excellence in Education, which advocates nationwide, is a strong proponent of the approach.

“It’s a pretty simple law. It says that if you’re in a failing school, parents ought to have the ability, if a majority want to, to have a say — simply a say — in providing advice on what structure a failing school should take,” Bush said. “That doesn’t say…they can convert to a charter school or something else. It just simply says, parents’ voice matters. If that’s a radical idea in America today, then we’re in a heap of trouble.”

“I think it’ll pass,” Bush said.

Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett, who adheres to Bush’s parental choice concepts, has been a frequent speaker at the former governor’s foundation meetings. Bennett is Florida’s third education commissioner in two years.

Gaetz, however, said that in their meeting, he and Bush didn’t speak about the parent trigger idea.

“We talked generally about where education policy was going in this country, we talked about online education,” Gaetz said.

Gaetz acknowledged that the pair shared concerns about deadlines that are nearing for many state and national education efforts. Among them, is the movement in Florida away from FCAT testing toward standards based on a common core curriculum, and the linking of teacher salaries to student performance.

“I told him we have a lot of reform that has been sort of shot off like rockets…and it’s all coming down from the sky now in the same place at the same time,” Gaetz said.

Gaetz said that Bush’s response was, “You need leadership. He sort of looked at me like, ‘Gaetz, do your job.’”

Making the most out of every opportunity — even a nationally televised bout of xerostomia and awkward lunge for a swig of water — Sen. Marco Rubio‘s Reclaim America PAC is offering Rubio water bottles to contributors who give at least $25.

Those who mocked Rubio’s bottle grab were trying to distract from his conservative message, a fundraising appeal launched Wednesday night says.

“Don’t get angry at the liberals who want to bury what Marco said. Laugh at them…Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you…He hydrates you too.”

Rubio promoted the bottles on his Twitter feed Wednesday night.

He also tweeted that there’s been an upside to his thirst episode: “Picked up over 13,000 new followers on #twitter since last night! Im going to start drinking #water in the middle of all of my speeches!”

Admit it — unless you’re an Indiana politics junkie or fan of former OMB directors, you probably don’t have any particular visual recollection of Mitch Daniels‘ 2012 GOP response to the State of the Union.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, on the other hand, provided a memorable image Tuesday night when he gave the Republican response. In the midst of accusing President Barack Obama of laying out “false choices,” Rubio briefly ducked out of camera range to grab a water bottle and take a quick swig.

Rubio made light of the incident immediately afterward, sending out a picture of the Poland Springs water bottle on his Twitter account. Today, on ABC’s Good Morning America, Rubio hoisted a larger water bottle during a live interview with George Stephanopolos.

“I needed water – what am I going to do? You know, it happens. God has a funny way of reminding us we’re human,” Rubio said while smiling broadly.

For a more substantive take on Rubio’s speech, check out our Laura Green‘s account by clicking here.

The Democratic National Committee organized a conference call today to give a preemptive ripping to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio before Rubio delivers the GOP response to President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., were joined on the call by a woman named Annette Capella, billed in an advance press release as a “Medicare recipient from Florida” and introduced by Van Hollen as “one of Sen. Rubio’s own constituents.”

Said Capella: “I’m a senior citizen living in St. John’s County, Florida. Like many Americans, I will sit down in my living room and watch President Obama’s State of the Union speech and Sen. Rubio’s response with great interest. And like many Americans, I want politicians, including my own Sen. Rubio, to stop the partisan bickering and start working toward common goals.”

Using sophisticated journalism techniques (Google.com), the Politics column noticed an Annette Capella listed as St. John’s County Democratic chairwoman and asked if the Capella on the call was the same person.

“I stepped down as chair. I’m now state committeewoman,” Capella answered.

A DNC press release afterward described Capella as “a Medicare recipient from Florida and former Chair of the St. Johns County Democratic Party.”

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.

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio issued a statement marking the “tragic anniversary” of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision while freshman Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, hailed the landmark ruling in her maiden House floor speech.

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, also issued a statement affirming the ruling that struck down most restrictions on abortion in the U.S.

Read their statements after the jump…

(more…)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, an early frontrunner in GOP 2016 presidential chatter, congratulated President Barack Obama on his re-election and said he plans to work on “upward mobility policies” and on communicating the conservative message to minority voters who overwhelmingly backed Obama.

“The conservative movement should have particular appeal to people in minority and immigrant communities who are trying to make it, and Republicans need to work harder than ever to communicate our beliefs to them,” said Rubio, the Hispanic Senator who is probably the GOP’s most prominent minority voice.

Read Rubio’s statement after the jump…

(more…)