

Rubio will be Republicans' veep choice

Nobody does it better

Makes me feel sad for the rest

Nobody does it half as good as you

Baby, baby, darlin', you're the best

Carly Simon

Have you listened to the conservative commentators after Marco Rubio waxes poetic about the American dream, and the threat that President Barack Obama poses to it?

They practically swoon.

They are like Bruno and Carrie Ann shouting 10! after a Hines Ward fox trot.

Except they shout: Vice president!

I wrote "vice president" nine months before Rubio won his Senate rate because even I can see the obvious.

Nobody does it better than Marco, or at least nobody says it better. He has the best closing argument against liberal policies than anyone on the Republican circuit.

And after all, before 2008, what was Barack Obama other than a rookie senator with a great presentation?

As each pundit puts him on the 2012 ticket, Rubio goes into aw-shucks mode and disavows any desire to elevate his position from junior senator from Florida to president of the Senate.

Yet his press machine works furiously to trumpet his every move and statement, whether it's trashing Obama for more wasteful spending or trashing Obama for not wasting enough on manned spaceflight.

(While writing this column, two Marco spams popped up in my email folder. I swear. One was a quote about the July jobless numbers and the other a quote about Fidel Castro. He doesn't like either, and both are Obama's fault.)

Not a day goes by that there isn't a Marco moment captured on Sayfie Review, the state's top political website. Today it is a speech to the National Conservative Student Conference.

"I doubt I'll be able to give you the best speech you ever heard," he begins. "My teleprompter got left at the office."

Chuckles all around.

Given that Rubio isn't up for re-election until 2016, one assumes that 2012 is the objective here. Further proof is his vote against raising the debt limit.

If the vote failed, given the teetering state of world finances, we'd be neck deep in a much bigger market crash and on our way into a much deeper recession than otherwise might hit us.

Rubio understood all that. So what he did was make sure there were enough responsible senators to pass the bill, giving him the freedom to vote against it. He then trumpeted his conservative purity, placing him above those lesser Republicans who signed on for more borrowing.

This demeaned Republicans such as Dan Webster, who cast the tough vote necessary to save his constituents' 401(k) accounts so Rubio could crank out yet another solo on Washington spending.

Of course, that kind of duplicity clears the decks for 2012.

Whoever wins the Republican nomination will come to Rubio on bended knee because he can save the party from Michele Bachmann.

Make no mistake, she is running for runner-up in this race. She plans to monopolize the tea-party vote and parlay it into a spot on the ticket. Do you think she hasn't noticed the fame and fortune it brought Sarah Palin?

Michele plans to be a big player at the convention.

Oh, the irony of a Republican taking Republicans hostage.

This would put someone such as, say, front-runner Mitt Romney in a very precarious position if he won the nomination. He could well face a tea-party backlash, particularly if its heroine were dissed by the Republican Party establishment.

But putting her on the ticket would be unacceptable. The last thing Romney or any other nominee needs is to spend the campaign doing damage control on a vice-presidential candidate who cannot be controlled. See John McCain.

Rubio solves that dilemma.

He is rational and smart enough for the mainstream, and right-wing enough for the tea party.

He would not need a baby sitter. His Jedi Master was Jeb. He lights up the crowds.

He brings the most important swing state. He helps mend fences with Hispanic voters who are none too happy with the party's xenophobic tone. President Obama won 57 percent of the Florida Hispanic vote in 2008. Rubio captured a similar percentage two years later.

There is nobody better for Republicans, nobody even half as good. or 407-420-5525

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