Washington Post: Keep Your Eye on Marco Rubio

The Washinton Post came up with four 2012 dark horse candidates for president in its Sunday edition and right there among the four was a name a little more familiar than the others.

Marco Rubio.

In the story, reporter Chris Cillizza has this to say about the charismatic new senator from Florida:

Marco Rubio: Sure, Rubio won't even be sworn into the Senate until early next year. And, yes, he's only 39. But the Florida senator-elect is already a national star, a conservative favorite and a proven fund-raiser ($18 million -- at least -- collected for his campaign). Barack Obama changed the calculus for all rising political stars when he beat the first family of Democratic politics in the 2008 primary and then won 365 electoral votes in the general election. If no candidate emerges as a front-runner by summer of 2011, Rubio might go from dark horse to pole position.

Cillizza mentions three other possibilities, though not remotely as glowingly as he does Rubio. Heres a summary:

• Rick Santorum: The former senator from Pennsylvania a wild man to some, maybe nevertheless is beloved by social conservatives, and that could get him a leg up in the redder-than-most early-primary states.
• Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.: Members of the House never stand much chance in a race for the White House, but Pence has a gift for firing up social and fiscal conservatives alike.
• Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.: He became a national star when he won a special election to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Dem, but he knows hell be in a political soup in the Bay State if he runs for re-election. He might just figure he has a better shot at his partys presidential nomination.