Rubio asks followers to vote for Rick Scott after promise not to campaign against Bill Nelson

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio promised last month not to campaign against his best chum and fellow Florida Sen. Bill Nelson. But about 10 minutes before Gov. Rick Scott officially launched his campaign for the Democratic incumbent's seat, Rubio seemingly reversed course and asked his followers to vote for his frenemy Scott.

One of most important roles of senate is confirming federal judges & scotus. The road to growing the senate #GOP majority runs through #Florida Please join me in contributing to, voting for & supporting @ScottforFlorida #Sayfie

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 9, 2018

Why this sudden change of heart? Well, let's look back at what Rubio actually said about Nelson in March. Florida's Republican junior senator told reporters that he doesn't campaign against Bill Nelson, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

"Bill Nelson and I have a very good working relationship," Rubio said, according to the Times. "I think come election time – he supported Patrick Murphy because he wanted his party to have more seats in the Senate. I'll support the Republican nominee if Rick Scott wins it will be him. I think he'll do a good job as a senator. It's not an indictment on Bill. I couldn't ask for a better partner, especially from the other party, but come election time I want my party to win, just like he wants his party to win."

So when Rubio states, "I don't campaign against Bill Nelson," what he's actually saying is, "I'm not going to be mean toward Bill Nelson, but I will vote against him."

And if you look at Rubio's tweet, he's not particularly enthused about Scott – it sounds more like something he has to do after avoiding an appearance with the governor Monday at any of Scott's campaign events. "The road to growing the senate GOP majority runs through Florida. Please join me in contributing to, voting for & supporting [Scott]," Rubio tweets.

This is actually more of the same-old Rubio looking out for Rubio. As Scott backer and oil industry leader Dan Eberhart told the Naples Daily News, Rubio can't really do much against Scott because they share the same donors and voters.

"If Rubio refuses to endorse and Scott were to narrowly lose, Rubio's detente with Nelson might backfire," Eberhart said, according to the Daily News.

Expect a lot of half-hearted rah-rahs from Rubio on the campaign trail for the next months.

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