Marco Rubio, Rand Paul Lined Up to Enter 2016 GOP Fray

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is set to make his presidential run official in two weeks as the crowded field of likely GOP candidates begins, one after another, to formally enter the White House race.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio is tentatively scheduled to announce his presidential aspirations on April 13 at the historic Freedom Tower in Miami, where thousands of Cuban refugees were admitted to the country during the 1960s and '70s, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The haze around which potential GOP candidates are going to run in 2016 will finally lift in the next few weeks, with a long 19 months to go before the election.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is scheduled to announce his candidacy on April 7 at a rally in Louisville, before launching a tour of four early presidential voting states: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada, the newspaper said.

Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, spoke over the weekend of a 90 percent chance that she would announce in late April or May her intent to enter the 2016 battle.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on the other hand, continues to keep the schedule for his possible announcement under wraps, even though he already seems to be have launched his campaign. He’ll likely make his announcement late this summer.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz became the first official candidate last week when he made his formal announcement at an evangelical college in Virginia, while embracing the support of conservative Christians.

As for the Democrats, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also expected to say she’s entering the 2016 race in mid-April after months of dancing around the question.

And former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley surprisingly inferred on ABC’s "This Week" over the weekend that he would become a candidate, as he took potshots at Clinton and Bush.

"Let’s be honest here," said O’Malley. "The presidency of the United States is not some crown to be passed between two families. It is an awesome and sacred trust to be earned and exercised on behalf of the American people."

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