Try as he might, Carlos Lopez-Cantera ain't no Marco Rubio

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a former state rep and one-time Miami-Dade property appraiser who wants to replace Sen. Marco Rubio in D.C., is trying to cast himself as a near carbon copy of his would-be predecessor, a 2012 VP contender with the real potential to be the first Hispanic U.S. president.

It ain’t gonna fly.

Sure, C-Lo and Rubio are pals. The LG sat on stage at the Freedom Tower when Rubio announced his run for the White House in April? They stood together last year in Doral with Gov. Rick Scott denounce the Venezuelan government’s crack down on students and activists. He announced Rubio at the Miami-Dade Republican Party’s sold-out Lincoln Day Dinner last month.

They’re both young — CLC is 41 and Rubio is 44 — and have pretty wives and cute, little kids in private school.

In his speech, Lopez Cantera made references to the same themes that Rubio has been running on — liberty and freedom, opportunity and roots and family. He talked about being the son of immigrants ad talked about creating a “better version of the American Dream.” He also has a quote about “The American Dream” as a slogan on one of his campaign photos. Rubio’s second book is called “American Dreams.”

And Lopez-Cantera even mentioned Rubio, saying he would basically be the same kind of senator. “I’ll continue the fine work of our United States Sen. Marco Rubio,” he said in his announcement speech, the most exciting part of which was that it was Periscoped.

There’s only one problem: Ladra has met Marco Rubio. Ladra knows Marco Rubio. And you, C-Lo, are no Marco Rubio.

In fact, other Republicans in the race or likely to jump in seem more Marcolike than the former House Majority Leader who hasn’t had to debate anybody in his life and doesn’t have the charisma that Rubio exudes. Ron DeSantis is a fiery speaker with a better back story and can move conservatives across the country. Congressman David Jolly, who is expected to announce, is a Tea Party darling who won an underdog race, like Rubio.

Other ultra conservatives are also said to be looking at the race, which means that CLC, who is more establishment mainstream GOP, could gain an edge.

In fact, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Lopez-Cantera — whose family owns a lucrative real estate property management firm — is more Jeb Bush than Marco Rubio. With maybe a little dash of Scott thrown in for relevancy.

He certainly seemed to be channeling Scott as he stood before a giant American flag draped over cardboard boxes stacked high to the ceiling in a warehouse at All American Containers, a business owned by Remedios and Fausto Diaz Oliver, longtime GOP donors who also pleaded guilty in the 90s to tax evasion charges. The photos look a lot like pics taken during Scott’s”Jobs! Jobs!” re-election campaign that toured manufacturing factories last year.

Creating jobs will be a recycled theme for C-Lo’s senatorial bid. “We’ve added 879,000 jobs,” said Lopez-Cantera, who is apparently going to be leaning heavily on Scott’s record.

“Here in Florida, we’ve turned the economy around, creating almost 900,000 jobs,” Lopez-Cantera said in a video he released a few hours before his announcement speech, “cutting our debt, balancing our budget and giving you back more of your money, making our state a place where families ad small businesses can flourish and grow.

“Doesn’t sound much like Washington, does it? But we’ve proven conservative principles work: Less taxes, less government and more freedom. My priority will be to keep govt spending and govt. power under control so you keep more of your money and your freedom. Now, there will be a lot of people in this race who promise a lot of things. But my conservative record in Florida is more than a promise. It shows that I’ll fight and win for you.”

In a video released later Wednesday by Javier Manjarres, who writes the Shark Tank blog, Lopez-Cantera also denounced the renewed U.S. negotiations with Cuba — saying he would vote against sending an ambassador to Cuba — and the nuclear arms deal that President Barack Obama has presented for Iran.

“It’s a bad deal for the safety and security of our country and our world,” C-Lo said.

There he goes again: Trying to sound like Marco Rubio.

Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Marco Rubio

Try as he might, Carlos Lopez-Cantera ain’t no Marco Rubio added by Ladra on July 16, 2015
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