Eight days before Florida's ever-important March 15 presidential primary, Republican presidential contender and U.S. Senator from Florida Marco Rubio held a rally at the Tampa Convention Center. Fresh off a big win in Puerto Rico, Rubio was greeted by a jubilant gathering of around 400 supporters and local and national media.
The visit took place the same day that Tampa Mayor and Twitter superstar Bob Buckhorn told MSNBC, "I will tell you in no uncertain terms: He's been the senator for four years. I am the mayor of the third-largest city in this state. I have never met Marco Rubio. He has never taken the time, either in Washington, D.C. or in Tampa."
Behind both Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz in some polls, Rubio made an impassioned plea to supporters, telling them: “After I take the oath of office I am going straight to the Oval Office and I am going to repeal every single one of Barack Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders.”
“I will cancel the deal with Iran and I will return power to the state,” he added.
Wearing a dark blazer with no visible signs of sweat, Rubio went on: “The last eight years under president Obama have done incredible damage to our nation and to our people."
Outlining his plan for the future, the senator made reference to his Cuban heritage and held up his parents, a bartender and a maid, as an example of the American Dream. However, he never mentioned immigration and in a further jab at Obama suggested any suspected terrorists he caught would be “sent straight to Guantanamo,” a statement met with rapturous applause from the crowd.
He talked about veterans many times, thanking those in attendance and acknowledging more must be done to help both veterans and to reform the Veterans Association, including, if necessary, firing those at the top.
He paid homage to Nancy Reagan, who once invited him to dinner, and suggested these are troubling times for true conservatism and said, “When our work was done, the American Dream didn’t just survive, it reached more people and changed more lives than ever before. When our work was done the 21st century was better than the 20th century, it became a new American century, this is what we have a chance to do together. But we have to do it now.”
Security was slim and relaxed at the rally and although Rubio himself seemed confident and at ease, shaking hands and taking selfies with supporters after his roughly 45 minute speech, it lacked both the gravitas and sense of assured success evident at last month's Trump spectacle. Up until very recently Rubio has distanced himself from the mud slinging and personal attacks that have catapulted the Donald to front-runner status. As ‘attack’ Rubio has teamed up with Cruz in the past few weeks to double team Trump much to the delight of the GOP establishment, its effects in the polls have been negligible.
There is still a week to go until the winner-take-all Florida primary, a week Rubio has left to court his home state and perhaps save his presidential campaign.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2016.