While he might not be in Washington, former Gov. Jeb Bush is routing Sen. Marco Rubio as the preferred presidential candidate in 2016 among the Florida Republicans in the U.S. House.
Jonathan Easley from The Hill asked Republicans in the Florida delegation who they were backing and found a strong tide in favor of Bush. Already five Republican members of the delegation -- U.S. Reps. Ander Crenshaw, Mario Diaz-Balart, David Jolly, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Dennis Ross -- are for Bush in 2016. According to the article, Ross is helping woo other Florida Republicans in the delegation over to Bush.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told Easley that Bush is his top choice for the moment but he is also looking at two other potential Republican candidates in former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., and Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis.
According to The Hill, Bush has been far more aggressive in trying to round up the support of congressional Republicans than Rubio. But the senator does have a backer in the Florida delegation: U.S. Rep Tom Rooney, R-Fla. None of the other representatives from Florida are close to supporting Rubio even though they continue to praise him.
Of the 15 Florida GOP members The Hill spoke to, Rep. Tom Rooney is the only one who is ready to back Rubio.
I think that [Marcos] leadership is the kind of transformational leadership that our party really needs right now, Rooney told The Hill, though he admitted that his candidate was an underdog. I think people shouldnt forget that when Marco started running against Charlie Crist, he was a huge underdog then, as well.
Hes got his work cut out for him and its going to be up to him to see whether or not he can climb that mountain, but I believe that he can, Rooney added.
In the meantime, eight Republican congressmen from Florida -- U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Curt Clawson, Carlos Curbelo, Jeff Miller, Rich Nugent, Bill Posey, Dan Webster and Ted Yoho -- are undecided.
Clawson praised his ally U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is also looking at running in 2016, to The Hill. Last month, Clawson voted for Paul as speaker of the U.S. House against U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Curbelo told The Hill he would hold off endorsing until candidates actually entered the race.
Two Republican congressmen from Florida -- U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan and Ron DeSantis -- did not respond to The Hill. The article can be read here.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
