Move over, Paul Ryan, there's someone else applying for the job of Willard's sidekick.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party and a favorite among conservatives to round out the party's ticket this fall, endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Wednesday evening.
Rubio's endorsement is a marker of support that many candidates had sought. It comes at a point in the campaign at which Romney has sought to coalesce Republicans behind his candidacy.
"I don't have a problem with primaries, but I think we're at a stage now where at least two of the candidates have admitted that the only way to get the nomination is to have a floor fight at the convention," Rubio said before announcing his support for Romney on Fox News.
Now as everyone's known for weeks, Willard's got this thing wrapped up. So there's only one reason for Rubio to endorse at this point. In fact, it could be argued that if he doesn't want on the ticket, this is a really dumb move, because it diminishes his Teahadist street cred.
A year ago, Rubio seemed like a smart pick for Willard, but now I'm not so sure. His "screw you I got mine" approach to immigration won't buy the GOP many much-needed Latino votes and his little fib about his background didn't help his marketability.
At this point, my money's still on Ryan, Pawlenty ... or George Zimmerman.
