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Marco Rubio, the ambitious son of Cuban immigrants who reached the United States Senate before his fortieth birthday, has always acted old for his age. From his days as a political director in Florida for former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole in his mid-20s, to becoming the youngest speaker of the Florida House in the state's history, Rubio has constantly been underestimated because of his youth. In the forthcoming book, The Rise of Marco Rubio , Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia paints a picture of a man who has taken a calculated approach to his rise to power. Although Rubio's Senate candidacy in 2010 was often described as emerging spontaneously from the tea party, his trajectory to national stardom was long in the making, involving years of toiling in local Florida politics and leading the state legislature. It did not appear, as popular conception once dictated, out of thin air. "His rise had actually been as conventional as...