Rubio And DeMint, Campaigning Together

MSNBC reports that Marco Rubio will take a jaunt out of his home state in the middle of a primary race against Gov. Charlie Crist to go fundraising in South Carolina, where one of the U.S. Senate's top conservatives, Jim DeMint (R-SC), will travel around the state with Rubio March 15, drumming up cash for his Florida Senate race.

It's an unusual move for a Senate candidate who, from all indications, has no White House aspirations: trips to key primary states like South Carolina, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Rubio's home state of Florida usually signify presidential ambitions--but in this case, it seems like nothing more than an effective way for Rubio to raise money, and build some out-of-state fundraising ties that will help him in Florida. Some candidates (though usually not ones engaged in high-profile, competitive primaries) go to Washington, DC for fundraising help from party leaders; Rubio, instead, will go to SC for assistance from an oracle of the conservative movement.

DeMint has already helped Rubio out in launching a parallel stimulus-anniversary "money bomb" for Rubio, which augmented Rubio's original money bomb and helped him get over the $787,000 goal.

The two will also launch a website, www.DeMintRubio.com, later this week, MSNBC reports, to help the one-day fundraising trip that will include stops in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville.

Rubio has long garnered attention and money from outside his state as a flagship candidate for the conservative movement. The tip to SC during his primary is an indication, on the heels of Rubio's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC last week, of how wide a scope his primary campaign has taken.