"The Rise of Marco Rubio," a new book by Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, due out June 19, offers some intriguing details about the Cuban-American politician.
Rubio, who served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, currently is a U.S. senator from Florida. His name has constantly been thrown around as a possible vice president running mate for the Republican presidential candidate.
In April, Rubio was named to Time magazine's 2012 100 Most Influential People list.
In March he endorsed presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Fox News, which again threw his name in the mix as a VP candidate. Romney is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.
Political reporter Chris Moody today wrote a list of 10 interesting facts that are revealed in the new book.
The list includes:
-- Rubio played catch with Dan Marino and Tim Tebow on the floor of the Florida Statehouse.
-- Rubio's brother-in-law is the Speedo-clad yoga instructor in the movie Couples Retreat.
-- Rubio wrote about his hair products in his high school yearbook: "I, Marco Rubio, hereby bequeath my hairstyling secrets to Freddy."
-- Rubio enjoys rap music and can freestyle: "On long car rides along the campaign trail in Florida, 'Rubio liked to blast hip-hop on the stereo, Snoop Dogg and other edgy rappers. He can spit!' one young staffer marveled to a friend, invoking the slang term for singing rap lyrics," wrote Moody.
The book's description on Amazon.com reads:
"Senator Marco Rubio has been called the Michael Jordan of Republican politics and a crown prince of the Tea Party. He is a political figure who inspires fierce passions among his supporters -- and his detractors.
"From his family's immigrant roots to his ascent from small-town commissioner to the heights of the United States Senate, The Rise of Marco Rubio traces a classic American odyssey. Rubio's grandfather was born in a humble thatched-palm dwelling in a sugar cane–growing region of Cuba, more than fifty years before Rubio's parents left the island for a better life in Miami. His father worked as a bartender, his mother as a maid and stock clerk at Kmart. Rubio was quick on his high school football field, and even quicker in becoming a major voice on everything from immigration to the role of faith in public life and one of the great hopes of the Republican Party.
"Drawing on hundreds of interviews and documents, Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia shows how Rubio cultivated a knack for apprenticing himself to the right mentor, learning the issues, and volunteering for tough political jobs that made him shine. He also has a way with words and the instinct to seize opportunities that others don't see. As Mike Huckabee says, Rubio 'is our Barack Obama with substance.' The Rise of Marco Rubio elegantly tells us why."
Will you read the new book about Rubio? Share your comments.
