Mitch Perry
Marco Rubio may or may not make a full fledged run at the presidency, but he’s certainly flirting with the possibility, and like some other GOP candidates, has been talking more about economic inequality than ever before as he touts his new book, “American Dream.”
But Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant says that while the senator is sounding a new tune now, his policies are still the same.
“Marco Rubio is in Miami today …talking about how he’s a new type of Republican,” she said on a conference call with reporters Friday morning. “The fact is, he’s out of touch with the struggles of Florida’s families, the very ones who are working very hard every day, sometimes doing two-three jobs struggling to make ends meet and trying to put food on the table.”
Tant referred to previous Rubio comments on how entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare have “weakened us as people,” but came up short when asked by the Tampa Bay Times Alex Leary about the current policy positions he’s been talking about while on the stump.
“We’re reviewing those now,” she said, adding later that, “I’m still in the process of reviewing all those.”
The chair also had to be prompted to comment on a negative report about Rubio this week that said since being elected in 2010 to the U.S. Senate, he has the body’s worst voting record. According to the website Vocative, Rubio has missed 8.2 percent of the total number of votes in the Senate since 2011—four times the Senate average of 2.01 percent.
“He’s not showing up for work,” she said. “That’s not what he’s elected to do. Folks have a reasonable expectation that when they elect someone to do a job, they are there to do the job, and he’s not.”
Tant was supposed to be joined on the call by Annette Taddeo, Charlie Crist‘s running mate last fall. But a garbled cellphone connection ended her participation a minute into the call.
With the possibility of Rubio leaving his Senate seat next year to make a full-on run for the presidency, there has been news of late about potential Democrats who could decide to run for the nomination next year. Tant said today that she’s been speaking with some of those names being floated about, but she wouldn’t actually give out any names. Except for one.
“I have not spoken to Charlie (Crist) specifically about this race,” she said when asked if the party’s 2014 gubernatorial candidate was in the potential mix. When asked about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Patrick Murphy, two Democrats who have been mentioned in the media, she said,”I’m just talking to everyone who’s expressing interest. I don’t want to pre-empt anyone’s announcements or further thoughts with my own observations.”
When asked about the blockbuster report in Politico that Wasserman Schultz’s office offered to change her position on medical marijuana if Orlando attorney and Democratic fundraiser John Morgan stopped criticizing her as she contemplates a run for the Senate, Tant simply said that she was “disappointed.”
Disappointed in whom?
“All of it. It’s saddening to me that it’s occurring.”
