WASHINGTON – He says he’s frustrated with the job, and he hardly bothers to show up to vote.
So why doesn’t Florida Sen. Marco Rubio heed his critics — including his one-time mentor, former Florida governor Jeb Bush — and leave the Senate so he can pursue the presidency full time?
Rubio’s campaign won’t give a direct response, referring only to the senator’s previous statements.
Rubio has said that he shows up for votes when they matter and that his office continues to help constituents and provide other services. He notes that plenty of other senators who ran for the White House also had high absentee rates, and none quit the Senate.
“A lot of these votes won’t mean anything,” he told CNN. “They’re not going to pass. And even if they if they did, the president would veto it.”
The short answer on why Rubio won’t resign is that it probably wouldn’t help his campaign to be labeled a quitter. And his Senate seat gives Rubio a high-profile platform to weigh in on key issues.
“Marco can hold that as an ace in the hole,”said Keith Fitzgerald, a political science professor at New College of Florida in Sarasota and a former Democratic state lawmaker who served with Rubio in the Florida House. “At some point, he can use his position to gain center stage by being a key opponent to something that they want to do or possibly an advocate of something they want to accomplish. So why give that up?”