Marco Rubio “Makes Grown Men Cry”

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So says former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to the WSJ:

“The only privilege that I was born with was to be a citizen of the greatest nation in human history,” he tells a breakfast crowd of supporters at the Original Pancake House in Palm Beach Gardens. “What makes America great is that anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything.” The Obama agenda puts this unique inheritance in jeopardy, he says. Yet he keeps it all upbeat, inclusive, and to many people who see him in person, Reagan-esque.

“He’s the only guy I know on the scene today who makes grown men cry,” says Jeb Bush. Mr. Rubio is a political protégé of the former Republican governor. They share a preference for (in Mr. Bush’s words) “hopeful aspirationalism” to broaden the party’s appeal. He adds, laughing, that the younger man is a “much better speaker than I am.”

In our new issue, Von Drehle writes that Rubio’s decision to challenge Charlie Crist for Senate was the true kickoff to the 2010 campaign and the volatile Tea Party politics that defined it.

Meanwhile, Nate Silver predicts at 93% chance of victory for Rubio in the state’s tangled three-way Senate race.