With buzz increasing that U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio could end up on the Republican presidential ticket, the junior senator from Florida looked to highlight his conservative credentials this week on foreign and domestic policy, even as a prominent figure from Florida politics said he did not have the necessary experience to be vice president.

Besides hailing from Florida, which is expected to be the largest state up for grabs in November, Republicans hope that Rubio could help draw Hispanic votes to the ticket which will almost certainly have Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, as the presidential candidate.

This week, Rubio called for regime change and increased democracy in the Middle East -- favorite topics for neoconservatives -- while pushing for free-market solutions when dealing with organized labor, which is a favorite subject for economic conservatives.

Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., on Wednesday to push a measure urging President Barack Obama’s administration to support the opposition in Syria to Bashar al-Assad.

Both senators weighed in on the matter on Thursday with Casey insisting that the Assad regime was responsible for the death of more than 10,000 Syrians while Rubio called for regime change in that Middle Eastern country.
 
“Assad has committed atrocities against the Syrian people, and it’s essential that the United States keep applying pressure on the regime and plan for a post-Assad Syria,” Rubio said on Thursday. “Assad’s departure from power needs to be accelerated, while we lay the foundation for Syria to begin its difficult path toward a true, inclusive democracy.”

Rubio also weighed in on domestic matters on Thursday, unveiling a bill dubbed the Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees (RAISE) Act that would change the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Act to allow employers to give unionized employees raises and bonuses based on free-market solutions. The bill is being co-sponsored by two senators who are favorites of the tea party movement -- Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Mike Lee, R-Utah -- and David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana who admitted to having paid for prostitutes in 2007 but went on to win a bid for a second term in 2010.  

While Rubio has said he is not interested in the vice presidency and is no longer publicly talking about the possibility of ending up on the ticket with Romney, supporters continue to bandy his name for the position. Comedian and radio show host Dennis Miller and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota pushed Rubio for the vice presidential spot this week -- but a prominent former congressman from Florida said on Thursday that Rubio is not ready to hold that office.

If Romney, who looks almost certain to emerge as the Republican presidential nominee, chooses Rubio as his running mate, the junior senator from Florida would be the first politician in the Sunshine State’s history to be on a major party’s ticket. However, Joe Scarborough, who represented parts of the Panhandle in Congress as a Republican before becoming a morning cable television host, said on his “Morning Joe” show on MSNBC on Thursday that Rubio was not yet prepared to be on the GOP ticket.

“He's not ready to be vice president,” Scarborough insisted. “Just like Barack Obama wasn't ready to be president in 2008. Just like Sarah Palin wasn't ready to be on the national ticket in 2008."

While Scarborough noted he had a high opinion of Rubio, the former congressman said that the senator, who was elected to his current position in 2010, was not yet ready to be in the White House.

"I would just warn those who are fans of Marco Rubio, who think they are doing him a favor by pushing him center stage right after he's been elected to the United States Senate, back off," Scarborough said. “You're going to hurt him in the long run because he's not ready to be in the Oval Office. He's not ready to be vice president of the United States."



Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.