Miami Republican Marco Rubio became Florida's newest senator
just before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in a ceremony rich with tradition -- and in a
town brimming with friends and supporters.
Florida's senior Sen. Bill Nelson, in Senate tradition, accompanied Rubio
as he walked down the center aisle of the Senate to take the oath of office.
Also standing behind Rubio as he took the oath: former Florida Sen. Mel
Martinez, a fellow Cuban-American whom Rubio is replacing after former Sen.
George LeMieux temporarily filled in.
A serious Rubio, wearing a red, polka-dotted tie, briefly looked up as
Vice President Joe Biden -- sitting as the president of the Senate --
administered the oath at 12:28 p.m. He carried a Bible and later smiled as he
signed a swearing-in document.
Earlier Wednesday, Rubio met with reporters in his temporary Senate
office -- a bare bones cubicle in the basement of a Senate office building --
and laughed off the hype that has accompanied his arrival in Washington D.C.
"It's a circus, you guys are part of the circus," Rubio said. "You
understand, the stuff people talk about. They'll talk about somebody else next
week. I'm here to be the United States senator from Florida and the best
senator I can. I mean that, that's what I ran for, that's what I want to be."
He said the high expectations -- that he's vice presidential or even
presidential material -- isn't affecting his job: "My expectations are very
straightforward, I ran because I told people I want to be the U.S. Senator
from Florida because I believe this country is headed in the wrong direction.
I think both parties are to blame. I want to go to Washington DC . . . and
offer a clear alternative. That's what I ran on, that's what I'm going to be
for the next six years."
On the eve of the ceremony, Rubio basked Tuesday night in congratulatory
hugs and kisses from a crowd that hailed from across the state -- with a
decided emphasis on South Florida.
In attendance at "Florida House," the state's Capitol Hill embassy:
Eduardo H. Muhina, the current mayor of West Miami -- where Rubio got his
start -- and two former mayors, along with former Florida House Republicans
Gaston Cantens and Carlos Lacasa of Miami.
"I look forward to walking down the aisle with you tomorrow," Rubio told
Nelson, to laughter. He pledged to work with Nelson, a Democrat, on Florida
issues, but cautioned the crowd: "After all the pomp and circumstance is over,
we have a lot of hard work ahead of us."
He singled out three individuals as "key" to his success: his wife,
Jeanette, and two other Miamians -- former West Miami Mayor Rebeca Sosa and
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.
It was Ros-Lehtinen, he said, who "allowed me to work in her office as an
intern back in 1991." And Sosa, he said, was West Miami mayor "when I knocked
on her door in late December 1997 and asked her if she would help me run for
the city commission.
"She helped me, I won and look what it's gotten us," said Rubio, whom the
Washington Post dubbed one of the top 10 new senators to watch.
Rubio isn't the only Floridian already drawing cameras: Tea Party
favorite Allen West early Tuesday became one of the first Republicans to join
the heavily Democratic Congressional Black Caucus. He took his place right
after Miami Democrat Rep. Frederica Wilson, who replaces former Rep. Kendrick
Meek. Both new members were sworn in at noon, along with Miami Republican Rep.
David Rivera.
West took the oath accompanied by former Rep. Clay Shaw, who had
represented West's Broward/Palm Beach district before former Rep. Ron Klein, a
Democrat, ousted Shaw in 2006. Wilson did not wear her signature cowboy hats,
though a staffer carried one -- red and glittery -- by hand into the ceremony.
Rubio, who has sought to keep a low profile, rolled out his first wave of
hires on Tuesday, including chief policy advisor and legislative director
Sally Canfield, a former lobbyist at Sanofi-Aventis U.S. and a former senior
program officer in the Global Health Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
He also named a number of aides with close ties to Washington,
Tallahassee and several presidential campaigns, including his Senate campaign
communications director, Alex Burgos, who was director of specialty media for
former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign.
