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Rubio Near Decision, Sends Strong Signals Of Senate Run

Posted Apr 16, 2009 by William March

Updated Apr 16, 2009 at 06:37 PM

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio says he’s nearing a decision on his political future and is sending strong signals that he’ll run for the U.S. Senate next year, likely in a Republican primary against Gov. Charlie Crist.

In a conference call with reporters and conservative bloggers this morning, Rubio, who has an exploratory Senate campaign open, said, “We’re nearing the end of the exploratory process … we’re going to be making an announcement shortly.”

Rubio also said he wanted to make such conference calls a regular occurrence—suggesting he expects to be making political news for a while.

“I get almost all my political news from forums like the ones represented on this call,” he said.

Rubio has told news outlets this week, and said in the call, that he’s making his decision on the race without regard to whether Crist or any other candidate enters the race.

He also said the proliferation of anti-tax “tea parties” across the country indicates that most Americans are concerned about the same issues that concern him, including lower taxes and spending, and government interference in business.