Just watched Rubio on CNBC - I've excluded him from VP considerations because... well, not sure why - suppose I think it will look like pandering to Hispanics and therefore possibly do more harm than good - possibly it's simply that he looks so young - he's 41 but looks 31 - but the guy is smooth, exudes competence and intelligence, seems to know exactly what he wants to say and just as importantly how he wants to say it - and he's got some charisma - in short, he just shot up my VP list. I mean, he talked about Obama's unconstitutional immigration move relative to his own DREAM act and hit all the pertinent points in a coherent and appealing and uncomplicated way - that's exactly what I'm looking for: a guy [or gal] who in a minute of video footage can make the points you want made in a convincing and cogent way and do it all with a dash of charisma. That's the thing I like about Christie - comparing the two aside from that, Christie's got the executive experience which I value greatly, Rubio's Hispanic - and let's face it, there's probably no way Obama wins in November without his near monolithic support from African Americans and his very solid support from Hispanics - if Rubio can put a dent in that Latin vote - and maybe even, as a minority, a much smaller but still possibly significant dent in the absurdly skewed black vote - then you really have to take him seriously.
On the other hand, there's this from Jennifer Rubin. I share her enthusiasm for Ryan - and her complaint against Rubio basically echoes the reason I never really considered him in the first place - too young.
addendum: now Romney comes out and says indeed Rubio is being vetted - all sounds a bit confused and awkward. Of course Romney cannot be perceived as slighting the Hispanic guy so if someone leaked this info because they were pissed off about a slighting and wanted to draw attention to it, well, you can see why Romney has to go public and deny it - but it looks clumsy - and if he's said he's vetting Rubio when he actually isn't, you can be sure that will get out - and now you can't pick Rubio even if you were vetting him cause it will look like you caved to pressure - I'm having trouble figuring how you spin this in a positive way - which makes me think it indeed was a leak by a Rubio fan, a really stupid leak cause from my point of view all they've done is make it very difficult to pick Rubio even if he was a candidate and back Romney into a corner from which there's no graceful escape - but that's little hard to buy too cause Romney supposedly put one of his most trusted people on this, so would they really bring someone into the loop capable of making such a stupid error? It's so confusing I'm almost willing to believe the leak was an Obama plant.
addendumdum: Politico selling idea that Pawlently quickly climbing the list of VP possibles - lot of conservatives seem unimpressed by that choice and I probably would have been one of them until I caught him on ABC's flagship political gabfest this past Sunday and found myself very much impressed - I think Politico makes two good points: one, Pawlenty seems much more polished, engaging and comfortable as an advocate of conservative principles now than he did during the primary campaign; and two, Pawlenty's blue collar appeal and unpretentious style may prove an effective counter weight to image of Romney as out of touch rich boy that Obama will be peddling with great prejudice.
