Republican presidential candidates are going to need an incredible campaign strategy to dismantle President Obama in the 2012 election.
Two of the biggest challenges are winning large swing states, like Florida, and figuring out how to get Hispanic voters to pick in their favor.
The answer to the GOP's problems is apparently Sen. Marco Rubio.
"The Republican nomination for president is completely up for grabs, but there's a lot of agreement on who the vice presidential pick should be: Marco Rubio, the freshman senator from Florida," the Journal says. "My contacts in the Mitt Romney camp are boasting: 'Doesn't a Romney-Rubio ticket sound great?' One senior Romney advisor [sic] told me: 'We think that could be a dream ticket.'"
The main problem with that is Rubio, the junior senator and former speaker of the Florida House, and his staff don't sound interested, the Journal reports:
Rubio reiterated his stance to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren last week:I asked a close Rubio advisor [sic] what he thought of the idea of Rubio for veep. "I've heard that rumor too. But he may not think he's ready yet," the consultant said. But then he quickly added: "There's always 2016."
I'm flattered that people would throw my name around like that, but I'm not interested. I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee; I'm going to be U.S. senator. Every day we get better -- we get better at our job. I'm excited about what I'm doing. I don't think about it. I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee.As of late, Rubio does sound like the Republicans' best shot to help build a campaign -- he's on a mean hot streak.
In his first speech before the Senate, he drew mostly critical acclaim for his American Dream-style rhetoric, which was called an expression of "American exceptionalism" by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
He's been vocal on both the conflict in Libya and the war in Afghanistan and recently introduced legislation to make it illegal to bring a minor across state lines to receive an abortion.
On the other hand, he's still defending Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare overhaul, which isn't exactly a hot position to take -- especially for his home state of Florida.
Still, the Wall Street Journal is convinced he's a match made in heaven on a presidential ticket alongside more moderate Republicans like Romney or Tim Pawlenty with his triple-play credentials: Florida, Hispanic, Tea Party.
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