Shark Tank: Marco Rubio Says Tea Party Shouldn't be Co-opted by Washington

In an interview with the Shark Tank, a Florida politics blog, Marco Rubio questioned the need for a tea party caucus in Washington.

Conservatives already have an organization called the Conservative Steering Committee, run by Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Rubio wonders how the tea party caucus will be any different.

Rubio's hesitation to join the tea party caucus has created rumblings that the candidate may lose political capital with the movement that helped him win the U.S. Senate seat. But tea party leaders have told reporters that as long as his votes are consistent with their values, he'll stay on their good side.

Rubio says the legitimacy of the tea party comes from everyday people, not the politicians they elected.

"My concern is that all of a sudden politicians start co-opting the mantle of the tea party," Rubio says. "If all of a sudden being the tea party is not something that's happening in Main Street, but rather something that's happening in Washington, D.C., the tea party all of a sudden becomes some sort of movement run by politicians and it's going to lose its effectiveness."

Rubio says he'll be asking those involved with the caucus why they need something in addition to the Conservative Steering Committee.