海角大神

What does it take to make a boat a 鈥渓uxury speedboat鈥�?

Believe it or not that鈥檚 question that鈥檚 been roiling bored politicos on social media for the last 24 hours.

The context: The New York Times has run several pieces on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and his personal background and finances.聽聽dealt with his and his wife Jeanette Rubio鈥檚 penchant for driving fast enough to accumulate 鈥渘umerous infractions鈥� for speeding and careless driving.聽, much lengthier story detailed Senator Rubio鈥檚 history of money struggles, including student debts and ill-considered home equity loans.

The contention: in the second piece writers Steve Eder and Michael Barbaro noted that Rubio splurged on an $80,000 鈥渓uxury speedboat鈥� after receiving an $800,000 book advance in 2012. Rubio supporters immediately leapt to his defense, noting that the boat in question looked nothing like a yacht, and was in fact a family-oriented fishing boat of a type common in South Florida, where Rubio lives.

The Gray Lady (That鈥檚 the Times) is being elitist, in this view, attacking Rubio for his boat, leased Audi, and 2,700 square foot home while ignoring John Kerry鈥檚 actual yacht and Hillary Clinton鈥檚 lucrative speechifying. Hitting Rubio for traffic tickets was bad enough, according to conservatives. Now the liberal elitists are after him for his typical family toys.

鈥淥ne man鈥檚 luxury is another man鈥檚 ... fishing boat,鈥澛犅燼t the right-leaning Hot Air.

OK, we鈥檒l agree the initial traffic ticket story was over the top. It was short though, while the money piece was long and complex. And 鈥渓uxury speedboat鈥�? Every boat is a luxury, in a way, unless you鈥檙e an actual lobsterman or something. There鈥檚 a reason they鈥檙e called 鈥渉oles in the water you throw money into.鈥�

But that鈥檚 not the point. The boat is a distraction. As veteran National Journal reporter Ron Fournier notes, Rubio鈥檚 handling of money is fair game, and the NYT story has some serious allegations. It asserts that he has 鈥渋ntermingled personal and political money.鈥� For instance, in the past he used a state Republican Party credit card to pay for paving at his home.

Given that, to focus on the boat 鈥渋s the political equivalent of shouting,聽鈥榠gnore the burning forest, check out this tree!鈥�鈥澛�.

And the bottom line is that Rubio is now experiencing the type of journalistic scrutiny that all White House hopefuls face when their prospects rise. And Rubio鈥檚 prospects are rising, as he鈥檚 in the first tier of Republican contenders with Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The same cycle of vetting happened over and over in the 2012 race, according to political scientists John Sides and Lynn Vavreck. In their book on the election, 鈥淭he Gamble,鈥� they note that series of fresh GOP faces were discovered by voters and rose quickly to the top of the polling heap. These included Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich.

Then the media, attracted by the rise of these candidates, began to look more closely into their background. As negative aspects of their careers were examined their poll numbers began to sink.

This scrutiny was driven by 鈥渙pposing candidates鈥� need to stop the surging candidate from solidifying his or her lead and journalistic norms about vetting candidates,鈥� wrote Mr. Sides and Ms. Vavreck in their book.

Rubio might well withstand this probing better than Mr.Cain, et al., did the last time around. But he鈥檚 far from the first rising party star to have the narrow, intense spotlight of the press turned upon him.