Even if you're a Darwin voter who thinks Paul Broun is ignorant, you have to give him credit: He is upfront, to say the least, about his literal interpretation of the Bible.

That's unsurprising: Broun represents a mostly deep-red district, and fundamentalist Christians are his base. But especially these days, just weeks after voters nationwide rejected the scientifically-challenged GOP, it's a trickier question for Republican candidates.

And, yes, there are candidates for 2016 already. Witness Sen. Marco Rubio, the young, Hispanic Floridian whom the right believes could be their version of Barack Obama. Rubio got thoroughly tongue-tied when GQ asked him how old the Earth is:

I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I'm not a scientist. I don't think I'm qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries.

[In the interview, Rubio also reveals he's an Afrika Bambaataa fan. Regrettably, GQ did not follow up by asking him how old Planet Rock is.]

Anyway. Rubio may be no scientist (he's a lawyer), but he presumably took high school geology, so he knows the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In addition, he just watched two sure-fire new Republican senators go down in flames because they aren't OBGYNs, but they stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Why, then, would he try to weasel out of the question?

Iowa, says Slate's Dave Weigel, noting that 68 percent of Republican caucus-goers believe the planet was created in six days.

It's going to be a long four years, people.