Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, currently considering a run for president next year, visited Iowa last week to sign copies of his book,
"American Dreams."
Rubio spent close to
90 minutes in a West Des Moines bookstore Friday signing copies of the book as a gaggle of newspaper and television reporters studied his every move.
Iowa is home to next year's early presidential caucuses, and Rubio's first stop on a brief tour that will also take the freshman Republican senator to New Hampshire — site of the first presidential primary.
And Rubio plans to visit two other early states: Nevada and South Carolina, the
Tampa Bay Times reported.
At the Barnes & Noble bookstore, Rubio schmoozed with many of the approximately 100 Iowans who waited patiently for their turn to shake hands and have him autograph their books.
Members of the senator's team said they were pleased by the way the event turned out.
Speaking with reporters, Rubio touted his own foreign policy credentials when compared with those of other potential Republican candidates.
"Few, if any, have spent the time on it that I have," he said.
He blasted former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, widely regarded as the Democratic Party's presidential front-runner, calling U.S. foreign policy a "disaster."
And Mrs. Clinton, he said, "was part of being its chief architect."
Moreover, Rubio added, "at this point she's offering no ideas and is basically hiding in all the major issues of our day."
Rubio said Friday his decision would come down to "where I think is the best place to serve the country … That's a decision that obviously only me and my family can make, so we'll continue to pray about it and think about and we'll make a decision soon."
Rubio stands out among prospective GOP candidates because of his role in writing the 2013 immigration bill that passed the Senate but went nowhere in the House. The legislation is anathema to many Republicans who regard it as amnesty.
One person who confronted Rubio in Iowa Friday asked if Rubio stood by his bill.
"We can't pass it," Rubio said.
Asked about President Barack Obama's executive order barring deportation of many illegal immigrants brought into the United States as children, Rubio said he was opposed.
"I think we should do a legislative fix," Rubio said.
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