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- Skidmore proposes statewide protections for transgender people as Tampa enacts rule locally
- Get your Bill McCollum autograph today! GOP reigns supreme on eBay (updated)
- Unemployment in Florida reaches 11.2 percent; debate over federal aid continues
- Rubio within 10 points of Crist? So says Daily Kos poll
- Sink’s CFO office chief to move to campaign
- AG race could be a contest of dog lovers
- Meek tries to pin down Crist on unemployment compensation aid
- Rubio backer collects $$ from Crist buddies
- GOP “emergency meeting” tomorrow; Okaloosa party votes against Greer
- Dockery snags endorsement from former GOP chairman Tom Slade
- Erin Isaac’s resignation letter
- Aronberg gets painters’ union endorsement
- AARP: Poll shows members support health care reform
- New “fair and balanced” Tally news service coming?
- Today’s number: 35, average age for high blood pressure in military
Marco Rubio said this morning that if he had to decide today, he’d vote against confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.
Rubio also scoffed at the latest round of rumors that he’s considering dropping out of the U.S. Senate race and entering the race for state attorney general, and said his lackluster fundraising at the outset of his race will improve.
Because he’s the son of a Cuban immigrant family, attention has been paid to Rubio’s position on Sotomayor, who would be the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
“If I had to vote today, I’d vote against confirmation,” he said this morning. Rubio said he wasn’t satisfied with Sotomayor’s answer to questions on gun rights and self-defense, or on the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, which he said was “a prime example of activist judiciary.”
“The hearings are still going on, but something would have to change” for him to vote for confirmation, he said.
Gov. Charlie Crist, Rubio’s opponent and the front-runner in the Senate GOP primary, hasn’t taken a public stance on Sotomayor but said he might take one by today.
Rubio is far behind Crist in the polls and fundraising, which has led to speculation that Rubio would leave the race and run for attorney general - a ballot spot where Republicans don’t have a big-name candidate.
But Rubio has said he expected from the start that he’d have to be a giant-killer in the primary and vehemently denies the persistent rumors of a switch. The most recent round came from a Washington-based political newsletter that cited unnamed sources saying Rubio was calling top Republicans to discuss switching.
“It’s not true,” Rubio said. “It’s unfair – I’m responding to two unidentified sources.”
Rubio said there are “some well-intentioned people out there who think it would be of benefit to the party” if he ran for AG, but “I’m as committed to the Senate race as I’ve ever been - I’m not switching races.”
Rubio said his campaign’s fundraising will improve. “Each quarter we have to show improvement – that’s been our plan all along. We expected we’d struggle early on.”
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