Marco Rubio: Not The Savior Republicans Think He Is

In his new column, “Rubio, Republican Dream VP, Won’t Fix Party Woes,” Jonathan Alter points out that Marco Rubio may not actually be able to deliver many Hispanic voters:

Although he claims to have no interest in the job, Florida Senator Marco Rubio is still the most likely VP choice for any Republican nominee, especially Gingrich, who has mentioned Rubio specifically.

Rubio is young, bright, handsome and from a critical swing state that he carried in 2010 by nearly 20 points. Most important, he’s Hispanic. He doesn’t have to help Republicans win Hispanics outright, but merely cut into the Democrats’ mammoth advantage. The Obama campaign knows that if the president, who won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008, can be held below 60 percent this time, he’s almost sure to lose.

But in truth, Rubio is not the ideal vice-presidential candidate to solve Republicans’ trouble with Hispanics.