Mitch Perry
Colorado Republican Cory Gardner on Monday became the first U.S. senator to endorse Marco Rubio‘s presidential candidacy.
“Our country needs a new generation of leadership, and I believe that Marco Rubio presents this nation with the greatest possibilities and opportunities to meet the challenges of the next generation,” Gardner said during an interview on the Fox News Channel.
In the now-much publicized slide show by the Jeb Bush campaign that was shown to donors last week in Houston, one slide ripped on Rubio’s lack of support among those who know both men.
The slide said Rubio had just one endorsement from Florida’s congressional delegation, and that Bush has the support of eight former speakers of the House in Florida, and, “Marco hasn’t received a single endorsement from a fellow U.S. senator. Bush has been endorsed by three.”
Well, you can scrap that last statement from the slide presentation.
Bush did get a nice endorsement himself Monday from a man who knows both: incoming Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran. Corcoran told FloridaPolitics.com that he’s a friend of both and realized that if he sat on the sidelines he could avoid alienating people, but that the choice was too important to keep silent.
Gardner, though, says there’s an excitement factor that Rubio brings to the party.
“I believe Marco Rubio presents us with the opportunity that Americans can be excited about, and that’s generational opportunity; that generational choice for all of America.”
