Has Marco Rubio Betrayed the Tea Party?

This is an extremely disturbing development if true. All over the country, Republican primaries are being moved up. One such state is Florida, the home state of Tea Party favorite, Senator Marco Rubio. Florida's primary has been moved up to January 31st, from March. There has been an easily understood school of thought that says the moving up of primaries will benefit one candidate more than any other - Mitt Romney. Robert Stacy McCain is reporting that Marco Rubio's chief of staff worked hard behind the scenes to do just that.

Via The Other McCain:

Yet while the moderate Republican faction in Tallahassee was immediately blamed for the primary date-switch, only insiders knew that a key factor was a push from inside the staff of the Tea Party’s own 2010 hero, Sen. Marco Rubio. GOP sources in Washington and Florida say that Rubio’s senatorial chief of staff, Cesar Conda, has been a major force in persuading Florida Republicans to move their primary to January.

“Cesar used to be with Romney’s campaign,” one informed source explained to me in an interview today, adding: “Conda used his contacts to push the primary to the 31st because they want Romney in.”

Conda’s loyalty to Romney was highlighted in a Politico story by Scott Wong last week: “At least six past and current Rubio Senate aides, including chief of staff Cesar Conda and his deputy, Terry Sullivan, worked for Romney’s 2008 presidential bid, establishing a direct link and a line of communication between the front-runner for the 2012 GOP nomination and the front-runner in the Republican veepstakes. There’s also a trail of fundraisers, donors and consultants who have overlapping relationships with Rubio and Romney.”

If this is true, Rubio will have quite a mess on his hands and be reduced to having two choices. 1.) Conda is relieved of his duties or 2.) Conda remains on board and Rubio risks being branded a Tea Party Benedict Arnold.

The other person to watch is Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) who is not only known as Senator Tea Party but went to the wall in order to make sure Rubio got elected.

McCain also explains the rationale behind Rubio's guys aggressively benefiting Romney with these shady tactics:

Some have speculated that, by delivering Florida for Romney, Conda would not only help Romney lock up the 2012 presidential nomination, but also secure the 2012 vice-presidential pick for Rubio.

Some may say this is just politics as normal but Rubio has been the quintessential poster child for a movement that at its core, rejects this type of thing.

If true, see which one of these two represents Marco Rubio:



h/t Hot Air