(CNN) – Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida outlined elements of a platform to bridge what he termed the “opportunity gap” – a lack of favorable circumstances in which individuals could lift themselves into the middle class.
“One of the fundamental promises of America is the opportunity to make it to the middle class,” Rubio said Tuesday, receiving a leadership award named in honor of the late conservative congressman, Cabinet secretary and GOP vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp.
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“But today, there is a growing opportunity gap developing. And millions of Americans worry that they may never achieve middle-class prosperity and stability and that their children will be trapped as well with the same life and the same problems.”
His forward-looking theme only further stokes speculation about his interest in a run for the White House in 2016. He made no mention of 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, but did respond to a joke from Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who was the party’s vice presidential nominee and is also the subject of 2016 speculation.
Ryan joked that he and Rubio should meet up at a diner in Iowa and New Hampshire, two early states where retail politicking begins.
