Senator Rubio is not standing for re-election, as you know. But he too has been a member of a dysfunctional legislative body. From what I've seen and heard, there's a lot to like about both his position on issues and his character. But he has demonstrated no leadership or willingness to speak out independently from his party's leaders in the Senate. He follows the hard party line even at the expense and peril of the electorate and the country.

Unless Senator Rubio begins to demonstrate some independence and responsibility and an ability to contribute some leadership and have some influence in the Senate by 2016, and if the Senate remains an ideologically stalemated body, it's not likely that he'll get my vote for re-election. I will not choose to support "business as usual" in the U.S. Congress.

To give you some examples of Republican Senators who demonstrate the independence I speak of, consider either Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma or Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois.

As far as freshman Senators like Rubio go, I much prefer the independence and leadership shown by Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. Kirk happens to be my former Congressman from Illinois' 10th District. He has shown a willingness to be creative and speak out with ideas on issues that aren't necessarily those that are set as the talking points by the Senate GOP leaders. He has a rating of 63 by the American Conservative Union, not farthest to the right, but someone who in time will likely get something done for the good of the country in the Senate.

By the way, in case someone tries to categorize either Shelby or Coburn as RINO's, they were both listed as a true conservatives by the American Conservative Union based on their votes in the Senate. They're in the company of Senators like Jim DeMint, Lindsay Graham, John Kyl and John McCain in that regard. Senator Rubio's Heritage Foundation conservative voting score is 94%, compared to 93% for Coburn and 72% for Shelby.