SALON

Tuesday, Jun 19, 2012 9:45 PM UTC

Romney stays mum on Rubio’s status in veep race

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Romney stays mum on Rubio's status in veep raceFILE - In this May 24, 2012, file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks just off the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a series of votes. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is staying mum on whether Rubio, a rising star in Republican politics, has been eliminated from his short list of potential running mates. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee told Fox News on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, that "a number of people are being vetted," but that only two people, himself and a senior adviser, know who's on the list. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)(Credit: AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney is staying mum on whether Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a rising star in Republican politics, has been cut from his short list of potential running mates.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee told Fox News on Tuesday that “a number of people are being vetted,” but that only two people — he and a senior adviser — know who’s on the list.

“Even Ann doesn’t know,” Romney said of his wife. “We talk about the possible people that I might select. But in terms of actually who is being vetted, that is something only two people know. And Beth Myers doesn’t talk.”

The comments came amid reports by ABC News and The Washington Post that the charismatic Rubio isn’t being vetted for vice president. The news distracted from Tuesday’s release of Rubio’s memoir and the final day of Romney’s six-state bus tour, which ended in Michigan Tuesday.

The Florida Democratic Party pounced on the flap, blasting a message to reporters titled: “Rubio fails preliminary review in Veepstakes.”

Asked about the reports during an appearance on Fox News, Rubio also refused to weigh in.

“I’m not commenting on the vice presidential process,” he said. “That’s been basically what we’ve said the whole time because, out of respect for Gov. Romney, the last thing he needs is to have to be addressing questions about this because really the campaign’s not about that.”

Rubio’s exclusion from Romney’s short list would disappoint some conservative activists, but would not come as a complete surprise.

While he offers obvious political benefits as a Hispanic leader from the swing state of Florida, Romney advisers have consistently said that he would give preference to those candidates with the greatest experience and ability to lead the nation on Day One. It’s a reflection both of Romney’s philosophy and lessons from the selection of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin four years ago as the GOP running mate.

A former state lawmaker, Rubio, 41, has served in the Senate for less than two years.

Inexperience also works against other oft-mentioned candidates, including New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

A handful of more likely picks have joined Romney on his bus tour in recent days as part of unofficial public tryouts for the No. 2 spot. Their interactions offered clues about who Romney might choose.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty traveled on Romney’s bus with him for two full days, on Friday in New Hampshire and through Saturday in Pennsylvania. He often warranted his own introduction, with a local official talking up his accomplishments as Minnesota governor before Pawlenty took the stage to introduce Romney.

When Pawlenty left the tour, it was to fly to New York to appear as a surrogate for Romney on ABC’s “This Week.”

On Sunday, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and his wife, Jane, went along for the ride. By this time, though, Romney had been joined by a pack of family members — sons Craig and Matt, and five grandchildren. That left Portman and his wife riding on a different bus from Romney’s for part of the day.

Still, Romney’s team trusted Portman to talk to the reporters who travel with the likely Republican presidential nominee. A Portman aide snapped BlackBerry photos as the senator did a background briefing.

Least visible was Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, whose role was limited to introducing Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at an event at a factory in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose June 5 recall election victory was a big win for Republicans, introduced Romney and accompanied him on a tour through the factory.

Romney’s Boston headquarters has been engaged for weeks in the secretive process of weighing the pros and cons of each potential pick.

With less than three months to go until Republican National Convention in August, the campaign has little time to waste as it meticulously prepares the presumptive Republican nominee to make one of his most important decisions. Advisers concede that Romney could make his pick earlier than right before the convention to help boost fundraising efforts.

Knowledge of the process is limited to a few of Romney’s highest-level aides. Information is on a “need-to-know” basis — and as far as those aides are concerned, there are few people inside the Boston headquarters who need to know, let alone reporters and other outsiders.

The process is so secret because it’s so sensitive.

A vice presidential vetting is possibly the most intense background check in politics. Everything is fair game: voting records and the political past, to be sure, but also personal issues.

“I think everyone should take a deep breath,” Rubio said Tuesday. “Here’s the one thing everyone should know: Gov. Romney’s going to make a great choice. In that I’m confident.”

___

Associated Press writer Kasie Hunt contributed to this report.

More Steve Peoples.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations