Barack Obama is in the White House. Healthcare reform that's been compared to socialism is on the horizon. Climate change legislation could be next.

What's the conservative media to do but fall in love?

And it has, head over wingtip-clad heels, with a charismatic, bilingual 38-year-old from Miami named Marco Rubio.

The former leader of the Florida House has dared to challenge the state's most popular politician, Gov. Charlie Crist, for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate.

``He's not the favorite in this race, but he's the best one running,'' gushed talk show host Laura Ingraham recently. ``I'm all about supporting true conservatives.''

The National Review made Rubio its September cover boy and swooned in its headline ``Yes, HE CAN.'' The American Spectator called him the ``great right hope.'' George Will even predicted a Rubio upset in his nationally syndicated column after just a half hour in his presence at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

Crist allies are starting to push back at the notion that Rubio is a conservative's dream candidate. Rubio is undoubtedly to the right of the governor, but he has strayed on occasion from the GOP's core principles of smaller government and less spending.

``His is a cunning and convenient conservatism that is inconsistent with his record,'' said Miami political consultant Carlos Curbelo, who has worked for Crist and took a job with Crist's ally, Sen. George LeMieux.

When Rubio served as House speaker, one of the most powerful positions in state government, he spent $2 million more on salaries and hired 20 people more than his predecessor. His communications director making six figures resigned amid the mounting criticism. (Rubio replaced him with someone with more experience at a smaller salary.)

Rubio also spent half a million dollars remodeling the House chambers to accommodate his new committee structure.

He forced two top lieutenants out of their leadership posts in 2007 after they were the only lawmakers to vote against an insurance reform bill that expanded the state's role and risk. And on Rubio's watch, the Legislature approved a pork-laden budget in 2007 that prompted Crist to veto a record-setting $459 million.

The following year, Crist vetoed a transportation bill that could have helped a Rubio friend bid on a major contract for Florida's Turnpike.

That all sounds more like business as usual than ``an idea-driven conservative reformer [who] promotes an authentic alternative agenda,'' as Rubio was lovingly described in The Weekly Standard.

Rubio defended his record, saying he wanted to retain former Gov. Jeb Bush's top talent in Tallahassee and that he didn't exceed his office budget. He also said the Legislature's spending plan was smaller than Crist's initial budget.

As for the transportation contract, he said the legislation would have forced the state to offer separate contracts for the food and gas sold at eight turnpike plazas, creating more competition and potentially lowering costs.

More recently, Rubio has hammered Crist for accepting $5 billion in federal stimulus money, but never explained how he would have balanced the state budget without it. The easiest place to be a fiscal hawk is in an armchair. Just ask Rubio, who has more than $900,000 in home and student loans.

But don't tell the conservative pundits. As Will observed, the boyishly handsome Rubio ``is 38 and in a decade might look that old.'' He forgot to mention his thick brown hair, dark eyes and clear skin.

Beth Reinhard is the political writer at The Miami Herald.

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