Fla.’s Rubio joins Prez wannabes

REPUBLICAN Marco Rubio bounded into the race for President on Monday, saying he offers voters the chance to make a forward-looking “generational choice” about the country’s leadership.

The Florida senator, 43, painted a sweeping picture of how he would restore the American Dream — and drew a pointed contrast with Democrat Hillary Clinton, 67, who entered the race via video Sunday.

“Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday began a campaign for President by promising to take us back to yesterday,” Rubio told supporters gathered at Miami’s Freedom Tower in an obvious reference to the former secretary of state. “But yesterday is over, and we are never going back,” Rubio vowed.

Rubio (inset) is now the third Republican to declare his candidacy, following Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The lawmaker, seen as having a shot at uniting disparate factions of the party, did harken to the past in his speech — that of his own family — as he projected a message about bringing Americans to a stronger economic future.

He spoke of the sacrifices of his mother and father, who came to the U.S. from Cuba and worked as a maid and a bartender in the hopes that their children would enjoy a better life.

“America doesn’t owe me anything, but I have a debt to America I must try to repay,” an at-times emotional Rubio told the crowd, which included his wife, Jeanette, and their four children.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida in Congress, quickly went after the Republican’s rhetoric as at odds with his record.

Rubio will “try and portray himself as a bold, new leader with fresh ideas. But the truth is — as those of us in Florida know all too well — he’s simply peddling the same stale, harmful wares that the rest of the Republican Party is selling,” she said.

She compared him to “a prune that’s wrapped in tinsel.”

Rubio is set to visit the early voting state of New Hampshire on Friday, and will likely visit Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada by the end of April. An impressive fund-raiser, he’ll also headline donor events in New York and Boston.