Marco Rubio

• Shockingly, the Religious Right opposes Elena Kagan.
• The Maine ethics commission has rejected the National Organization for Marriage's request to have its investigation dismissed.
• Does it seem odd that an out-of-state Republican group would spend $500K+ to get Green Party candidates on the ballot in Texas?
• Giving Elliot Spitzer a TV show is just like giving O.J. Simpson a TV show.
• Ralph Reed and Marco Rubio meet up in California.
• Bryan Fischer continues his "all public policy should be based on the Bible" agenda by explaining that it is okay to make immigrants show their papers because Nehemiah had papers.
• Attention potential spies:  Peter LaBarbera is on to you.

• Marco Rubio is reportedly set to pick up the endorsements of Frank Pavone and David Barton.
• Pat Buchanan is now a fan of diversity ... by which he means the Supreme Court has too many Jews.
• Elena Kagan might be getting support for lots of conservative legal experts, but the Judicial Crisis Network remains unimpressed.
• Randy Thomasson says Harvey Milk Day is a "moral crime" and that "teachers, principals, and schools that push Harvey Milk's values are responsible for the degradation of children as human beings."
• Neither Focus on the Family nor the Family Research Council are willing to comment on the evangelical push for immigration reform.
• Quote of the day from Maggie Gallagher: "My own complaint about the religious right is not that it is too much in politics, but that it is not enough. In too many cases, religious conservatives talk like they are in politics, make demands like they are in politics, issue threats like they are in politics -- but they do not create the institutions that are at the heart of politics: organizations that raise money and spend it electing politicians who will vote for their cause."
• Finally, Sir Reginald Bling (aka Randall Terry) has something to say:

• Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has been forced to issue a statement trying to explain why his office paid George Rekers $120,000 for his anti-gay testimony.
• Marco Rubio sits down for an interview with Human Events.
• Frank Pavone says his "pro-life freedom rides" are just like the civil rights movement: "In that case, it was skin color. Today, it's the age of the child -- the fact that the child is still in the womb. But it's the same fundamental mistake that we think that we can exclude some human beings."
• I'm starting to think that the GOP is being run by Bartleby, the Scrivener.
• You know, if the National Day of Prayer is going to go on again next year even with government recognition, then why is the Right so miffed? Nobody is trying to stop them from holding events.
• Finally, don't let the United Nations destroy Mother's Day.

Ben Smith reports that Richard Land is apparently quite smitten with Marco Rubio and is tossing out his name as a possible presidential candidate in 2012: 

Marco Rubio's remarkable fundraising haul -- $3.6 million this quarter, he just announced -- is a reminder of the scale of his stardom inside the Republican Party, all of whose core constituencies seem to like the guy.

He's already hearing every day (and brushing it off) that he should run for president in 2012, and at the inevitable moment in the cycle (as in every party, every cycle) when Republicans panic about their field of nominees, he's likely to be uniquely attractive: young, conservative, Hispanic, and from a swing state besides.

The buzz for a Rubio candidacy is broad, and deep. Observers like Matt Lewis have made the case publicly, and my impression is that if a swathe of conservative leaders haven't talked up his candidacy, it's only because they haven't been asked. I was talking to the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land earlier this year for another story when he brought Rubio up, unasked.

"The longer nobody catches fire, the more space heir is for Marco," he said. "It wouldn’t be unheard of for a freshman Senator from Florida to be the nominee – particularly one who was Speaker of the [Florida Assembly].

"He's got more experience than Obama had," Land continued. "There are a lot of Hispanics in this country who would find someone with Marco’s ethnic background very appealing. Although I like Sarah [Palin] I think Sarah’s got a lot more impediments to a nomination than Marco Rubio does."

I was surprised to hear it from Land, a leading figure on the Christian right, with which Rubio hasn't been particularly associated. Rubio is more generally seen as the darling of the Wall Street-financed Club for Growth and of the fiscally-oriented Tea Party movement. But Land said he'd heard a great deal about Rubio from Baptist ministers in Florida, who said "he walks the walk."

If Rubio is thinking of plotting a run for the White House before he's even been elected to Congress, it might behoove him to remember that last time around, Land couldn't stop talking about how Fred Thompson was a "Southern-fried Reagan" who possessed "a tantalizing combination of charisma, conviction and electability," while gushing that to "see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint.”

• Tomorrow, Ralph Reed will announce whether or not he has decided to run for Congress in Georgia.
• Last week, Marco Rubio joined Tony Perkins, Harry Jackson, and others for a Watchmen on the Wall event in Florida entitled "iMPACT 2010: Unleashing the Voice of the Church."
• It looks like WorldNetDaily's conference is out to bring all of the right-wing crazies together under one roof.
• Someone is running robocalls in Iowa accusing Rick Santorum of being a "pro-life fraud."
• Ken Hutcherson blasts Focus on the Family for supposedly forcing James Dobson out and for not hiring him to take over, even though he wouldn't have taken the job anyway.
• Quote of the Day I from the Liberty Counsel's Steve Crampton regarding LC's fight to prevent a lesbian high school student from taking her girlfriend to the Prom: "In all candor, while we know nothing about the complaining student here, we believe this is part of a larger agenda to implement homosexual rights in the schools."
• Quote of the Day II from Janice Crouse on gay marriage: "In actuality, homosexual unions have a very short lifespan; many of the same-sex “marriages” in Massachusetts are already being dissolved. Further, the health risks associated with homosexual practice are very real and very much in evidence in the emergency rooms of hospitals. There is no denying: Homosexual sex is dangerous and destructive to the human body. Both HIV and HPV are epidemic among homosexual men. Domestic violence is a common problem — twice as prevalent among homosexual couples as in heterosexual ones. Indeed, legally creating a union does not enable two men or two women to become “one flesh,” nor does a legal ceremony give the union sanctity. Instead, the ceremony creates a sham that will devalue all marriages."

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio has recently become the daring of the conservative movement, so it is no surprise that he was given the opening speaking slot at this year's CPAC. 

And it is also no surprise that he gave the gathering exactly what it expected, declaring that Democrats are systematically redefining our government, our economy, and our country and the American people will not accept it any more, which is what gave rise to the Tea Party movement and the election of people like Scott Brown to go to Washington DC and put a stop to it:

Are you familiar with the name Dennis Baxley?  He's a former Florida legislator who took over the Florida Christian Coalition in 2008, a position he held until last summer when he resigned to promote Republican Senate hopeful Marco Rubio's campaign.  Back in 2008, Baxley made news for saying that Barack Obama's "Muslim roots and training" were "pretty scary" to everyday Christians.

Well, he's decided to make his try and get his old seat back in the state legislature:

Former Florida Christian Coalition leader Dennis Baxley confirmed he is running for re-election to the state House.

Baxley, a conservative Republican from Ocala, served in the state House from 2000-2008 and as the executive director of the Christian Coalition until May.

The funeral director raised eyebrows prior to the presidential election when he told The Miami Herald how he and other Christians perceived then-candidate Barack Obama: “He’s pretty scary to us.”

Baxley is running for his old District 24 seat because incumbent Rep. Kurt Kelly has jumped into the race against incumbent U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, a liberal Democrat who defeated a four-term incumbent Republican in his election to Congress last year.

For the record, Baxley did more than raise eyebrows when he said Obama was scary ... mainly because he said a lot more than that:

Here's what Dennis Baxley, a former state legislator from Ocala and the executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida, one of the most prominent groups on the religious right, said during an interview with the Miami Herald about Obama's outreach to the Christian community:

"He's pretty scary to us,'' he said. "I think his Muslim roots and training -- while they try to minimize it -- it's there."

Asked what he meant, Baxley pointed to Obama's childhood stint in Indonesia and his Muslim relatives.

"That concerns me particularly in the period of history we are living in, when there's an active movement by radical Muslims to occupy us,'' Baxley said of Obama's background. "That whole way of life is all about submission. It concerns me that someone rooted in those beginnings, how it might have affected their outlook. That's what scary for me."

Baxley on Obama's trip to Europe: "I think you can tell from his appeal and how a lot of the media emphasized how loved he is in other places. I'm very concerned that our own American values rooted in Christian principles be protected. It's fine with me if he wants to run for chancellor of Germany or chief of the European union, but not for president of the United States. I'm concerned about someone who has those global priorities. I just want someone who will take those responsibilities of preserving American values and American culture and not try to make us citizens of the world."

On Obama's description of himself as a devout Christian: "I don't want to pass judgment. I take him at face value. I do look at his story and where he's been, and the influence of the Rev. Wright-type of Christianity, and I'm not sure that's what I relate to...He wants to tax the rich more and redistribute wealth to other people -- where I come from that's socialism. Karl Marx was not a Christian."

Asked if he speaks in public about Obama's "Muslim roots'': "I really don't talk about candidates. I talk about issues. My greatest challenge is not Obama, it's apathy. I'm trying to get values voters to rise out of their apathy and participate...I can't speak for anyone else but I'm probably typical of all of the people who are suspect of those Muslim roots. We all know what early intervention with children is all about, and I am really wondering what the influence was on him from his father's background and being in a Muslim country. I'm not cooking up some plot about Muslims trying to inject a leader into our country but I am wondering how it influences his thinking."

Correction: Originally, I stated that Baxley was running for Congress, when he is actually running for a seat in the state legislature. I've updated the post to correct that mistake.

• Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews NOM's Brian Brown and Frank Schubert says he hopes he's remembered for more than being the PR mastermind behind the Right's anti-gay initiatives.
• The American Family Association is now boycotting the Gap.
• The Club for Growth has endorsed Marco Rubio.
• The CADC pleads for donations so they can pay for their anti-hate crimes protest.
• Sen. John Ensign has moved out of the house on C Street.
• The Family Research Council is launching a campaign called "Adult Stem Cells Saved My Life."
• Islam is God's reality check for America?
• Finally, Don Feder writes that it is time for the GOP to "purge the party."

It looks like the Right, fresh off its "victory" in backing Doug Hoffman in New York, is now focusing its attention on the Florida Senate primary race between Gov. Charlie Crist and right-wing darling Marco Rubio.

Mike Huckabee endorsed Rubio months ago and he's already received support from the National Review. Now the Club for Growth is getting involved in the race:

The Club for Growth took a major step Thursday toward backing Marco Rubio in Florida’s GOP Senate primary, launching an ad against Gov. Charlie Crist.

The ad criticizes Crist for saying this week that he didn’t, in fact, support President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.

“Since Charlie Crist helped pass Barack Obama’s spending program, nearly 200,000 Floridians have lost their jobs,” the ad states. “Unemployment is the highest in decades. Personal income’s down. And the deficit in Washington is three times larger.”

The ad is not yet on TV but is slated for an ad buy, a Club spokesman said.

And today, the Family Research Council Action PAC officially endorsed Rubio as well:

Today FRC Action PAC, the political action committee connected to Family Research Council Action, is endorsing Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate representing Florida. Tony Perkins, President of FRC Action, made the following statement:

"Marco Rubio has been a true friend of the family and the culture of life as a state legislator in Florida. Senators who will fight to defend the family against the radical leadership in the Senate are crucial to the future of our country.

"Rep. Rubio has fought to protect mothers and their unborn children. He supported pro-life legislation that would require doctors to complete ultrasounds before performing abortions thus giving the mother an opportunity to assess the consequences of her actions. Rep. Rubio also understands the importance of adult stem cell research in treating patients. He also endorsed legislation to ensure that taxpayers aren't forced to fund embryonic stem cell research.

"Rep. Rubio knows how taxes and out-of-control government spending burden our families. We believe he will stand up to the White House and Senate leadership as they attempt to saddle our children and grandchildren with an overwhelming mountain of debt.

"Rep. Rubio's many years of advocacy on behalf of pro-family causes will serve him well in the Senate. FRC Action PAC believes that Marco Rubio will be a true advocate for the issues that best uphold and strengthen families. We are proud to support his candidacy," concluded Perkins.