For obvious reasons—his good polling against Hillary—there’s been an ongoing press attempt to dig up the dirt on Rubio. This is the latest effort, an article about how in 2002 Rubio helped an ex-con brother-in-law obtain a real estate license in Florida, and didn’t reveal he was his brother-in-law or that he lived with Rubio’s parents at the time.

The brother-in-law’s drug-offense (cocaine dealing) had occurred in 1987, and he had served a long sentence (11 1/2 years) and been released. There are no allegations of wrongdoing by him since; his record has been fine. And here I thought liberals were all for rehabilitation, particularly of drug offenders! I guess not, if a Republican can be hurt by it.

A statement by the Rubio campaign:

“Orlando made some very big mistakes almost 30 years ago, served his time, and has paid his debt to society,” Rubio’s presidential campaign adviser, Todd Harris, said in an email. “Today he is a private citizen, husband and father, simply trying to make a living. It is appalling and shameful that The Washington Post continues to drag him into the spotlight.

“Marco has recommended scores of Floridians for various professional positions and after Orlando paid his debt to society, Marco was happy to recommend him as well. He believed Orlando should be judged on his own merits and felt it would be highly inappropriate, and could be perceived as exerting undue pressure, if his letter stated that Orlando was a relative.”

It seems to me, however—not that I’ve got my finger on the pulse of America—that this information is about as likely to hurt Rubio as his purchase of a boat or his wife’s speeding tickets did, which is not very much. Rubio is already hurting with the Republican base, but I doubt this will help or hurt him any more or less there, either.