Marco Rubio made a rare appearance in the Tampa Bay area on Monday. But it was an appearance earlier in the day at an education forum at Miami-Dade College where he made news.

Though he definitely received coverage for his speech on trying to close what he called an "opportunity gap" between Americans with and without advanced college degrees, it was his non-response about whether he had ever indulged in smoking pot that has the Internet buzzing a day later.

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<p>"You know why I never answer that question? I’ll tell you why I never answer that question. If I tell you that I haven’t, you won’t believe me. And if I tell you that I did, then kids will look up to me and say, “Well, I can smoke marijuana, ‘cause look how he made it. He did all right, so I guess I can do it, too.” And the bottom line is that it is a substance that alters your mind. Now, when I was 17 and 18 and 16, I made dumb decisions as is. I didn’t need the help of marijuana or alcohol to further that. … And I know I’m sounding like a 42-year-old dad, but … Here’s the problem: You can make mistakes at 17 that will be with you the rest of your life, OK? When you go interview for that job, and that thing pops up in your background check, that you got arrested for something dumb, they don’t look at you and say, “Ah, you were just 17.” There are people that won’t get hired because of that stuff. … And that’s the problem with that question. So the answer to your question is, at this point, it’s irrelevant."</p>
<p>Rubio won" sunshine="Sunshine" t="t" the="the" they'll="they'll" this="this" time.

This article appears in Feb 6-12, 2014.