Marco Rubio, Still Running for Senate

The youthful Republican and ex-Speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives is pushing back against unsourced rumors that he’ll drop out of the 2010 U.S. Senate race.

“It’s not true,” Rubio said before addressing a meeting of the Northeast Leon County Conservative Club.

Trailing Gov. Charlie Crist in polls and in fundraising, Rubio said his campaign has been dogged by periodic reports that he was getting out.

“Those things have been going around every week,” he said with a shrug.

Rubio’s fundraising has lagged Crist’s by a 10 to one margin, hampering his quest to become an insurgent hero to grassroots, “Tea Party” Republicans—and revealing that the money might not be there for such a campaign.