So...why is Rubio saying "no" to Mittens?

[Ken Burch]

A month ago, he was the Dog Abuser's dream pick. The polls supposedly show a dead heat, which means Rubio could claim to be the "Game Changer" that Caribou Barbie failed to be.

Anybody here got any guesses as to why Young Marco wants no part of this?

[FSogol]

1. He can see a train wreck before they happen?

[RadiationTherapy]

2. Because he is going to be Jeb's 2016 VP.

[brooklynite]

5. No he's not - it's Unconstitutional...

One idiosyncracy of the Constitution is that it says that the President and Vice President can't be from the same State.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. He's got four years to move to another state.

Dick Cheney was living in Bush's home state of Texas when he appointed himself to be W's running mate; he quickly moved back to Wyoming. No problemo.

[former9thward]

11. He is the Senator from FL.

You can't be a senator and live in another state.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. He can resign from the Senate and move to another state.

If he wants it badly enough I assume he'd do just that.

[WI_DEM]

16. yeah, resign from one state and move to another and run for the senate and win

not likely.

[Ter]

26. Jeb would be the better choice to move

He can, but the point is moot. After nominating back to back regular conservatives in McCain and Romney and outraging Freeper types both times, no way will they nominate Jeb in 2016.

[Ken Burch]

24. Good point.

It would be Jeb that had to move...and he could probably camp out at mom and dad's place in Crawford.

[Daniel537]

20. Not true.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/vicepresident.asp

[brooklynite]

23. As the article points out, this was considered an issue in 2008...

...I doubt that any major Party candidate is going to try to reinterpret the Constitution based on a Snopes analysis.

[Ter]

25. It also implies that one of your parents must be a US citizen at time of birth

Both his parents were born in Cuba.

[Orangepeel]

31. Where does it imply that?

[jwirr]

21. This sounds most likely.

[Bake]

3. Because he doesn't want to go down with the Titanic?

Doesn't want to be branded as a loser?

Just a guess.

Bake

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Probably because he doesn't want to be part of a losing ticket.

He can read the handwriting on the wall - he knows Mitt will have a terrible time winning this, with or without a Latino running mate. Why would he want to be associated with the taint of Mitt?

[Ganja Ninja]

7. Maybe he just hates Mitt.

Lots of people do.

[cr8tvlde]

8. Can we just skip 2012 and start on 2016?

My 2 cents ... fun to speculate ... Rubio is nobody's fool and has a long time to bide his time. Also, he's too smart for Mitt...he'd outshine him.

Hillary won't go VP in 2012...stepping down from SOS, I'd guess, to prepare for 2016. Pics of her and Bill together...that's one tough political marriage. She'll need a Rubio-type running mate...definitely hispanic would be best.

Agree Jeb in 2016 ... Condi is being shopped?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Hillary has said repeatedly that she's not interested in running for anything.

And she'll be pushing 70 in 2016. Not gonna happen.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. Would Rubio go back in time and purchase a ticket on the Titanic?

Certainly, joining the Romney team would preclude any chance of his being our first Hispanic president.

[SheilaT]

10. A week or so ago Rachel Maddow said on her show

that all the potential Hispanic VP candidates, including Rubio of Florida, Susanna Martinez the current governor of New Mexico, and I forget who else, had all said publicly that they were not in the least bit interested in being the VP with Romney. Apparently his record with Hispanics is so incredibly abysmal that even otherwise self-respecting leading Hispanic Republicans will have nothing to do with him.

[RockaFowler]

12. Rubio is a liar

He was caught lying about his family's history. He's gonna wait until it blows over in 2016

[mfcorey1]

14. Saving himself for Jeb 2016

[WI_DEM]

17. because he doesn't want to appear like he is 'running for the job' like Christie & Portman

but if Mittens asked him he would accept.

[phleshdef]

18. Its not completely unthinkable that some people just don't want to be President or Vice President.

Some of these people like their little lives the way they are. I'd say MOST of them do actually, otherwise we'd see more people running for President on both sides of the aisle.

We have plenty of great, progressive Democrats that never ran and never will run, simply because they don't want the job. They don't want to leave their home state. They don't want to deal with the heightened security needs around themselves and their family. They don't want that kind of responsibility, etc.

Just because someone doesn't want to be President or Vice President doesn't mean there has to be some interesting ulterior motive.

[EFerrari]

19. He's vey close to Dave Rivera

maybe, too close.


Marco Rubio Stands By His Friend — But At What Cost?

From his first days on the political scene, Sen. Marco Rubio has never strayed far from his close friend, Rep. David Rivera. The men first met while volunteering for then Florida State Senator Lincoln Diaz-Balart’s first congressional campaign in 1992. A few years later, Rivera hired Rubio out of law school in Miami to work on Bob Dole’s doomed presidential bid.

By 2002, they were colleagues in the Florida state house and when Rubio was elected speaker in 2006, Rivera took up as his top lieutenant. They rode into Washington together on the crest of a powerful GOP midterm wave in 2010, Rubio as a senator, Rivera as the new house representative from Florida’s 25th district.

Today, Rubio is one of the Republican’s party’s most buzzed-about young stars and an early favorite to run alongside presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the coming general election. Despite repeated statements that he “won’t be the vice president,” operatives in both parties told ABC News they believe Rubio is seeking the bid.

“He wants it,” one Democratic strategist said. “He can say what he wants, but he’s doing all the things that people who want to be the running mate do. He’s going to South Carolina [to speak before state party bigwigs at their annual Silver Elephant dinner] and working on some Republican version of the Dream Act.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/marco-rubio-stands-by-his-friend-but-at-what-cost/

[SoCalDem]

22. He does not want to enter the race for an open seat in 2016 as a LOSER who attached himself to a

TWO-TIME loser like Mittens

[TheKentuckian]

27. Why get mixed up with a phony with loser stank I can smell from my porch?

[Marr]

28. I'm not sure he's going to say "no".

He hasn't actually been asked yet. As for his past comments... since when do politicians' words mean anything? For god's sake, look at Romney. He's the most experienced politician in history, if you just count the number of different positions he's endorsed.

[RZM]

29. He probably believes it's a losing ticket

So why waste the time and energy on it?

That way he's still fresh for 2016 when the Republicans have a better shot.

[Mr.Turnip]

30. Well for one it turns out Rubio doesn't help Romney at all.

according to the polls being done recently, infact some of them actually show him HURTING Romney. Rubio is also not as popular as he once was, his approval/disapprove numbers are about even now.