How a Hug JumpStarted Marco Rubios Career
Monday promises to be a big day for Marco Rubio the Florida Senator has said that he'll announce whether he plans to run in the next election, and for what. It was only a little more than five years ago that Rubio took the big risk that brought him to the precipice of a potential presidential candidacy. He had spent nearly a decade in the Florida state legislature but, in mid-2009, was not in office. In mid 2009, Florida's governor Charlie Crist seemed to have the race locked up to become Florida's next Senator. Then, after Barack Obama won the White House, Crist appeared at an event with the new President and exchanged a hug. Rubio, as TIME's David von Drehle recounted in a 2010 cover story about the changing Republican party, saw his chance, Crist eventually dropped out of the Republican field to run as an Independent, but it was too late. Rubio won the Senate seat and was catapulted to the top rung of the Republican Party. Listen to the most important stories of the day.