Erick Erickson: Marco Rubio 'Original Tea Party Candidate'

With U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., expected to launch a presidential bid at an event at the Freedom Tower in Miami on Monday night, conservatives and liberals from across the nation are starting to have their say on his impending campaign.

Erick Erickson over at Red State urged his fellow conservatives not to underestimate Rubio, especially when compared to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who are already off and running for the Republican presidential nomination.

He has been a voice for fiscal sanity, small government, and strong foreign policy, Erickson wrote of Rubio. He is also one of the kindest men approachable in Washington. He would rather talk football than politics. He would rather be with his wife and kids than at a fundraising event or Washington social party.

Today, Rubio will declare his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, Erickson continued. Cruz and Paul have gotten the attention so far. All three of these conservative senators, the grassroots revolutionaries, are announcing ahead of the smorgasbord of governors and other would-be Republican contenders. Rubios path to the stage in Miami today explains why he might be better positioned than Cruz or Paul to make some headway.

Rubio, however, is the original tea party candidate, Erickson insisted. His candidacy united the grass roots against the leadership and he won. The Washington crowd convinced themselves he could not win, but the grass roots proved they could pick a winner. Rubio was the first.

While Cruz and Paul began forging coalitions, Rubio worked to not undermine his relations with the grass roots while not antagonizing the establishment, Erickson added. His immigration compromise hurt him, but he seeks the nomination in a party that nominated both Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mitt Romney, two men to the left of Rubio on immigration.

Today in Miami, Sen. Marco Rubio will declare his candidacy for the presidency and of the three conservative senators to run, he is most likely the Goldilocks of the bunch, Erickson concluded. He is not too tied to the grass roots to antagonize the establishment. He is not too tied to the civil libertarians to antagonize the conservatives. And he has not gone out of his way to reject the base of grassroots supporters who got him elected in order to curry favor with the leadership. He strikes the right balance. He has also been so sufficiently off the radar, by design, for so long that many donors and primary voters will want to listen again to the man who united the right to beat Charlie Crist and the establishment in 2010. They may like what they hear.