Florida U. S Senator Marco Rubio's post-election agenda will include programs to strengthen the middle class with education opportunities and high-paying jobs. Those and his other proposals for immigration and debt reduction may be setting the stage for the political combat of 2013.
Rubio's vision, as he told the Tribune Company newspapers in an interview last week, is an American Dream for the 21st Century. The major - though still undefined - components of that would be new education opportunities and incentives for employers to create high paying jobs.
Widely considered a prospect to run for president in 2016, Rubio also said he would work to restructure Medicare and Social Security to keep them solvent.
The first term Senator denied that these are the early skirmishes of a presidential campaign, but according to recent polling he is already a heavy presidential favorite, mostly because he is seen as most likely to attract supporters other than traditional aging, white Republicans.