As a field of prominent Republicans continue to ponder entering the race for the seat that U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is giving up, one of the candidates who plunged in early, Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, is off to a fast start. Rivera is announcing that he reeled in $700,000 in the first quarter of 2010. This is even more impressive considering Rivera has been in the race for a little over a month, initially had been planning to run for state senate and has his hands full in Tallahassee with the budget.
Of course, Rivera will need the cash. Congressional aide Carlos Curbelo, Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portila, R-Miami, and Sen. Alex Villialobos, R-Miami, are still looking at jumping into the Republican primary race. Obama administration staffer Joe Garcia, who was the nominee in 2008, and Luis Rivera, who held political office in Puerto Rico and Connecticut, will battle it out on the Democratic side.