Staffer goes from Pawlenty to Rubio
(CNN) - The former spokesman for Tim Pawlenty will soon become Sen. Marco Rubio's press secretary.
Alex Conant, who worked for the former Republican presidential candidate until he dropped out of the race last month, will start in the first term Florida senator's office in October.
"I've admired Sen. Rubio's principled leadership since he started running for Senate and am excited to join his team," Conant told CNN. "And of course, I'm looking forward to trading in Minnesota winters for Florida sun."
In a statement Rubio said Conant will be a "great asset" to his team in the Senate as they work to "create jobs, tackle the debt and keep America safe."
The move will do little to quell talk of Rubio as a potential GOP vice presidential candidate in 2012, suggestions Rubio has repeatedly shot down.
Before his time tenure with Pawlenty, Conant worked for GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and as a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
- CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
rising star...could be the next clinton for the gop...
Goodness. Pawlenty sure created a flip flopping mess with his staffers, didn't he? I see that Mitt Romney has added former
Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman to his staff. The same Norm Coleman who lost his gubernatorial bid to Jesse Ventura and his Senate bid to Al Franken. Coleman is a which ever way the winds blow flip flopper too: In his case, Democrat to Republican.
This great infatuation with Marco Rubio is about 2 things: Winning over Hispanic voters and carrying the state of Florida in the 2012 presidential election, both of which look very patronizing I watched a portion of his speech at the Reagan library 2 weeks ago, and something just seemed amiss about this young man giving a speech against the current Social Security system, that sounded like it could have been written by Rick Perry.
Rubio will someday be President.
Rubio's not even a natural born citizen!
I think that was a smart move. Rubio is definitely a rock star in the Republican party.
Vote No for President Zero
I hope Rubio can see the set up. (1) Get the Hispanic vote so he can keep them in line long enough for them to win. (2) Deport them all back across the border. He's learning that the Republican way is not always the correct way and knows his colleagues are phonies. I believe he would've jumped to the chance to run for President if the majority of Americans agreed with the Republican party handling of the economy. He knows how Walker and other Republicans played their hands.
The boy VP , what a brand !
Romney / Rubio 2013 ?
nice move....from one loser to another ....by the way, what has this senator done so far?????..collect our pay and benefits, bunch of lifers
What has Rubio done so far that he deserves to be called "a rising star", if not only talking! He is still on the job training and people think he can be put on the list of considered VP of the greatest nation on earth? God help us, we are heading to the unknown destiny!