Shark Tank says Rubio to announce ‘prominent’ endorsement—Palin or Bush?

The Shark Tank blog said on Thursday that former speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio is set to announce an endorsement “from one of the most prominent names in politics.” In the column Javier Manjarres said the endorsement will be announced Monday, April 5, during a press conference at the Renaissance Ballrooms in Coral Gables, Florida at 10:30 a.m. Anyone can attend.

Former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio delivered the opening keynote address at CPAC 2010 in Washington.Though Manjarres said it’s being kept secret (he’s promised to keep his “jaws” shut), he provided a few clues in the tags to his column. Among the names in those tags are: Bugs Bunny, Jeb Bush, Sarah Palin and Elmer Fudd. Gov. Charlie Crist was tossed in for good measure although he was not mentioned in the column.

Politically vested conservatives have wondered when Bush will make a statement about the race—the former Florida governor is still popular in The Sunshine State. Rubio would seem a more likely choice after Bush called Crist’s support of President Barack Obama’s Stimulus bill “unforgivable.”

Rubio has already picked up some significant endorsements—Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Okla.), Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) are among them. DeMint threw the weight of the Senate Conservatives Fund behind Rubio months ago. [The US Report has previously disclosed the editor supports Rubio.]

On the heels of his announcement about running in the primary for the GOP senate nominee, Crist received endorsements from a number of top leaders in Congress. This move, however, inflamed a number of Main Street conservatives who felt more respect should have been shown the former speaker who was the first to declare.

Grassroots conservatives obviously support the engaging former speaker. A March 23 Rasmussen Poll found Rubio with a 56% to 34% lead over Crist. Even more interesting is the three-way poll Rasmussen conducted: “The first Rasmussen Reports survey of a potential three-way Senate race shows Rubio earning 45% of the vote to likely Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek's 25%, with Crist in third at 22%.”

Rubio has run a grueling campaign complicated by the fact Crist waited to declare his intentions. Many Floridians assumed Crist would finish his gubernatorial term and take a second in an easy victory. A number of conservatives have wondered why Crist made the decision to run for the Senate, particularly in light of Florida’s challenging problems during an economy devastated in large part by government policies dating to decades ago.

Adding to the economic challenge is Florida’s de facto sanctuary policy on entitlement programs, a result of de facto open border policies by the federal government. This has strained welfare programs and challenged numerous hospital budgets.

Rubio tussled with Crist on Sunday as part of Chris Wallace's show on Fox News. Crist denied he would run as an independent should he lose the primary, stating he would support the GOP candidate in the Senate race.

In a touch of humor on Thursday, Rubio listed ‘The Top Ten Ways Crist Has Tried to Make a Fool Out of Floridians.” A post at his campaign site noted, “For Charlie Crist, every day is April Fool’s Day.”

The primary will be held August 24. It’s likely Rubio’s announcement about his secret endorser will be followed by numerous endorsements after that date should he succeed in his mission to become the GOP candidate in the Senate race.

Meanwhile we’ll learn on Monday who the 'prominent' endorser is--Florida governor Jeb Bush or former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Or, for that matter, someone else not named in Shark Tank tags.  (By Kay B. Day/April 2, 2010)

Update on Friday, April 2, 2010 at 5:18PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Former N.Y. mayor Rudy Giuliani backs Marco Rubio says Javier Manjarres. And he offers a fascinating anecdote about that from the 2008 presidential campaign.