ANOTHER RISING REPUBLICAN – AT 9:19 A.M. ET:  One of the major political stories going today is the rise of conservative Marco Rubio in Florida.  He is challenging incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, and will probably win.  The Wall Street Journal runs an excellent profile on Rubio and the views that propelled him to the top of the heap:

Mr. Rubio nods when I mention his former longshot status. "When I got into this race, I understood that all the traditional metrics of politics were against us. Name recognition, money, trappings of office, connections, endorsements, you name it.

"Obviously, things have happened outside of our control since then," he smiles.

With a now-infamous photo of Mr. Crist embracing President Obama during a visit in February 2009, Mr. Crist put himself on the wrong side of the tea party wave that was building. Mr. Obama had come to Florida to sell his stimulus plan, and Mr. Crist's hug was easily portrayed as embracing a new, unwanted era of super big government.

And...

Mr. Rubio says he won't shy away from social issues if asked. He is pro-life and says he would support a Senate filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee under some circumstances. But his campaign is staking out an updated version of the Reagan agenda. "We're focused on jobs and national security," he says, "because those are the great and profound national issues of our moment and that's what 95% of our campaign is based on."

Front and center is the idea that, fiscally, the federal government is running off the rails. That Washington should be "taking borrowed money to fund the general operation of government," he says, "and that somehow the government will build so many roads and bridges that everyone will have a job for the next 30 years is absurd."

His priorities:

Which leads to Job One: To get spending under control in Washington, Mr. Rubio would support a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, something Florida already has in place...

...Entitlement reform is next. "I know . . . people don't like to talk about it," but Mr. Rubio says the country has to look at changing the Social Security system for people who are 10 or more years away from retirement age...

...Part and parcel is authoring a new tax code "that creates a competitive environment in America."

Rubio is getting powerful support:

A few weeks ago, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finally broke his silence in the Crist-Rubio battle. He called Mr. Crist's support for the Obama stimulus spending bill "unforgivable" and a "mistake," saying the bill was more about advancing a permanent left-wing agenda than meeting an economic emergency.

Finally...

"Most Americans support the notion of limited government. When the Republican Party has been about those things, it's been successful," he says. "When it's been about anything else it's been unsuccessful."

COMMENT:  Rubio is spirited and impressive.  The challenge will come in the general election.  Florida is, on social issues, moderate.  Rubio is a movement conservative.  That may not wear well in certain parts of the state.

Also, Rubio must pace himself.  Fast rises often lead to overexposure and turned-off voters. 

Rubio has enormous potential.  He should, however, take a lesson from Ronald Reagan, who understood that America is idealistic, but not ideological.  Reagan was a conservative with a smile, an optimist, the kind of man Americans like to elect.  All ideologists have within them the tendency to become scolds.  Rubio must resist that.  Reagan was elected governor in a moderate state.  Rubio can win in Florida by following the Reagan example.

March 15, 2010