Marco Rubio is about to go all-in on being The Guy For The GOPers in 2016, more so than he already is The Guy For The GOPers in 2016. And he's doing it via the thorny immigration reform policy which, just like every other damn thing in Washington, has split the parties asunder.
According to Politico, Rubes is about to "fully embrace a measure that is the most significant of his political career so far."
Which means he'll officially make himself the leading contender for 2016 on the Republican side, or it might damage his brand, or it might do nothing at all.
Rubio is planning on a full on in-your-face Charisma Boy! bombardment via Sunday political talk shows, Rush Limbaugh-like radio shows, and also Spanish-language news outlets.
The Florida Republican has privately briefed individual GOP senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee -- including conservative skeptics John Cornyn of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah -- about the soon-to-be-unveiled proposal, according to sources familiar with the matter. His staff has pitched the plan to conservative thought leaders, including at the National Review and Wall Street Journal editorial board as well as the columnist Charles Krauthammer, sources say.
The main thing for Rubio will be convince fellow far-righters on the immigration reform overhaul, which has been a point of contention within the party.
According to Politico, he plans to do this by convincing them that the plan will be tough on the border, as well as smoothing over their fears of the whole pathway to citizenship thing that would allow 11 million illegal immigrants the chance to apply for citizenship after 13 years.
Teabagger Senator of Utah Mike Lee is not sure if this whole thing is his bag.
"What I told Marco was if we can proceed with this in segments, it would be a lot easier to get it passed," Lee told Politico. "It would be a lot easier for people like me -- people in both Houses and both political parties -- to vote for it. I see no reason why you have to lump everything in one 1,500-page bill and say, 'It's all or nothing.'"
Marco is going all-in like a Poker player, and what happens from here is anybody's guess. Except that nothing will probably happen because, the gun control issue, immigration is a sticky, complicated process where everyone disagrees and make loud angry noises at each other like little kids left unattended.
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