Atwater is a very strong candidate, possibly he’ll do better against rat Patrick Murphy than Rubs would have done himself. A coup by the NRSC.
Both of his elections as CFO have been landslides, in this last one he took 59% and won every county but Gadsden (Majority Black), Leon (Tallahassee) Alachua (Gainesville), Broward, and Miami-Dade. Yes, Miami-Dade is now worse than Palm Beach.
I agree Rubs is foolish to give up his Senate seat. He chances of being on the ticket are extant (more likely as VP than P), but not particularly great.
I also agree that Putnam is the odds on favorite to be the next Governor.
Now here is some bad news, Jeff Atwater is NOT running for the Senate in Florida.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/jeff-atwater-marco-rubio-seat-116880.html