Rubio a ‘savior’? Maybe not, but many conservative groups see (voting) perfection

Chris Moody
·Political Reporter

Marco Rubio may not be the "Savior of the Republican Party," but similar to followers of a better-known savior who walked the earth 2,000 years ago, some of the most influential American conservative groups see perfection in the junior senator from Florida.

(Rubio seems to want to keep the messianic allusions to a minimum. After he saw the Time cover, he tweeted on Feb. 7, "There is only one savior and it is not me. #Jesus")

Since Rubio joined the Senate in 2010, he has received high marks from a wide range of right-leaning advocacy groups who examine and judge lawmakers' voting records. One organization, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), gave Rubio an A+ rating on Wednesday for the votes he cast in the most recent legislative session, the only senator in the chamber to receive the honor. On Thursday, the American Conservative Union (ACU) included him on its list of lawmakers with the most conservative voting records.

The AFP and ACU scorecards are just the most recent to be released. He has also received perfect or near-perfect voting scores from the Family Research Council Action, the Christian Coalition of America, Concerned Women for America, the Faith & Freedom Coalition, Heritage Action for America, National Right to Life and National Taxpayers Union.

Each organization uses a separate metric system to calculate scores, but taken as a whole, the annual reports suggest that Rubio's first two years in the Senate have been spent voting strictly along ideological lines.