Ryan Ray
Much has been made of the fraught relationship between Jeb Bush and the man who was once seen as his dauphin and natural successor as de facto head of the Florida Republicans Sen. Marco Rubio. Rubio spoke with Ben Terris and Ed O’Keefe of the Washington Post to clarify the nature of their relationship, and perhaps to put more daylight in between the two than has previously been seen:
Many in Florida have long seen Rubio as the student and Bush, 19 years his senior, as the teacher. But Rubio, who rose in the state legislature during Bush’s tenure and became House speaker after Bush left office, characterizes things differently — saying he learned by “watching him and working near him.”
“I wouldn’t diminish the relationship or exaggerate it,” Rubio said in an interview this week in Florida.
“It wasn’t that he sat me down and gave me a lecture about it; you learn from being exposed to people,” Rubio added.
The political tension emanating from their prospective clash in the 2016 GOP presidential primary will have fallout far beyond them personally. The lobby corps in both Washington and Tallahassee have a great deal at stake, too.
Brian Ballard, a Tallahassee lobbyist and GOP fundraiser, said Rubio “was in the role of – not necessarily a protege, but someone who really respected Jeb’s political skill and his intellect and his policy wonkiness.”
Ballard said the relationship was “outstanding,” but, he added, “it’s just that sometimes you compete with your friends.”
Rubio, in the interview, sought to make clear that he did not spend extraordinary amounts of time with Bush. “I never worked for him,” Rubio said. “I was never a staffer of his.”
The strain of Bush vs. Rubio could be felt more by their mutual supporters, some said, than by the candidates themselves.
“I think it would be less awkward for Jeb and Marco than for a lot of us around them,” said Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist from Florida who has been a supporter of both but is siding with Bush in the presidential race.
