The Marco Rubio train is leaving the station, and if you’re a Republican star — or a wannabe Republican star — you had best be on it. Today, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (firmly in the latter category) became the latest national Republican to get on board the Rubio campaign, giving Rubio is full-throated endorsement this morning.
“Marco is every limited government conservative’s dream candidate, and every big government proponent’s worst nightmare,” Santorum said in an interview on Bill Bennett’s radio show.
Santorum is just one of a long line of national party figures kissing Rubio’s ring these days. In the past two weeks, Mitt Romney, Eric Cantor and Dick Cheney (among others) have expressed their support for him, working to get their endorsements in before Gov. Charlie Crist leaves the primary fight to run as an independent.
Santorum is widely believed to be testing the waters for a presidential run in 2012, and having a piece — however small — of Rubio’s GOP stardom certainly can’t hurt. Neither can calling out Gov. Charlie Crist. As have Rubio’s other recent endorsers, Santorum called on Crist to either remain in the GOP and continue running against Rubio in the Florida Senate primary or leave the race all together. Crist is rumored to be considering abandoning the GOP to run for Senate as an independent.
“Governor Crist should either stay in this primary or stand aside and support Marco,” Santorum said. “Any other path would only benefit the continuation of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda.”
