Here's the latest example of the axiom that politicians need to keep their friends close and their enemies closer:

For the second time in five days, a Republican hopeful for a major 2010 Senate race had to scramble to deflate a rumor that he is dropping out.

The latest incident, which erupted Wednesday, put Florida's Marco Rubio into damage control mode. National Journal's CongressDaily in Washington, D.C., wrote that Rubio appeared to be preparing to quit the 2010 Republican Senate primary contest, in which he is the leading conservative opponent to front-running centrist Gov. Charlie Crist.

Five-term Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, the leading 2010 Senate candidate prospect for Illinois' Republicans, avoided one big hurdle with the withdrawal of a potentially strong challenger for Feburary's GOP primary.

But even with Monday's decision by state GOP Chairman Andy McKenna to step aside, it may be a while before it's clear whether Kirk will be able to completely avoid serious primary competition -- from a candidate backed by conservatives who are not thrilled with Kirk's record as one of the more centrist Republicans in the House.

The Senate contest in Illinois, which has the earliest 2010 primary of any state, will in fact be an indicator of how "pragmatic" the party's conservative base is willing to be in an effort to regain some of the massive amount of ground the party lost in the past two election cycles -- particularly in states such as Illinois, that have been trending strongly Democratic.