July 07--Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential contender, is in Chicago to make a Tuesday morning speech and host a discussion on fostering innovation at 1871, the city's digital entrepreneur hub.
Following a theme of trying to paint GOP rival former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton as symbols of past leadership, Rubio will tell the audience that Americans need "a new president for a new age -- one with original ideas to unlock the two great doors to the future: the doors of innovation and education," according to prepared remarks.
"For the first fifteen-and-a-half years of this century, Washington has looked to the past. Our economy has changed, but our economic policies have not. And we have learned, painfully, that the old ways no longer work -- that Washington cannot pretend the world is the same as it was in the '80s, it cannot raise taxes like it did in the '90s, and it cannot grow government like it did in the 2000s.
The race for the future will never be won by going backward," Rubio contends in his prepared remarks.
"My innovation and higher education agendas form only a segment of the policy blueprint I have drawn up for my presidency, but my whole vision is built on a simple concept: New opportunities cannot be seized by old ideas, and the future must be embraced with enthusiasm and vision," Rubio will say according to his prepared remarks.
After his policy speech in Chicago, Rubio embarks on a three-day campaign swing in Iowa, the nation's first presidential caucus state. He's got several stops scheduled, including a young professionals group in Des Moines, a cookout in Windsor Heights, a breakfast of conservatives in Urbandale, a luncheon in Cedar Rapids and a meet-and-greet coffee in Davenport.
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