REMARKABLE MARCO – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  It was inevitable that Marco Rubio's name would play prominently in the Florida primary.  He is the young Republican senator from that state, and a star. 

A number of people urged him to run for president, but he refused.  He also says he isn't a candidate for vice president, but both Romney and Gingrich have suggested that they might name him to the ticket. 

I think Rubio is terrific, and I wish he'd have run for the top spot.  Is he inexperienced?  In a way, yes.  But he has more experience than Barack Obama had when he ran, so that checkmates that issue for the Democrats.  Rubio, before going to the U.S. Senate, was speaker of the Florida House.

Would he be a good vice presidential candidate?  Probably, yes.  But I'd imagine he'd only take the nomination if he saw it as a steppingstone to the presidency, and that's problematic...unless his ticket won.  Several vice presidents have gone on to the presidency in our time, either on their own or through unfortunate circumstances.  Truman, Nixon, Johnson, Ford, and Bush 41 had been vice president.  However, vice presidential candidates on a losing ticket are a different matter.  Only one in relatively recent memory became president, and that was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who'd been the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1920...and that was 92 years ago. 

So Rubio is probably looking closely at the chances for a Republican victory this year.   He would add much to the ticket, especially because he'd be the first Hispanic on a national ticket in American history.  But he might have Americans wishing that he was at the top, and no presidential candidate would want that.

January 27, 2012