Marco Rubio (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)Although there are several months left before Mitt Romney's expected announcement of a running mate, the weekend was filled with speculation about his choice.
Possible VP contenders including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte all weighed in on whether they would be chosen to run with Romney against President Barack Obama. Even Newt Gingrich, who dropped his own campaign for president just last week, chimed in.
First up was Bush, who flatly dismissed any talk that he would run on the ticket, touting Rubio for the job instead.
"I'm not going to be vice president," Bush told reporters in Naples, Fla., where he gave the commencement address at Ave Maria University on Saturday. "I'm an active supporter of Gov. Romney. I humbly suggest he seriously consider Marco Rubio."
The next day, when Chris Wallace asked Rubio about his own future on "Fox News Sunday," the Florida senator deflected the question, saying: "There are multiple ways that someone can help our nominee, and I look forward to doing that."
But Rubio did take the opportunity to offer a jab at his potential future competitor, Vice President Joseph Biden.
"Joe Biden's record on foreign policy is one of being wrong on virtually everything he's ever advised or anything he's ever asked for," said Rubio, who recently delivered a major address on foreign policy in Washington, D.C. "He's a very nice person, but Vice President Biden has a tendency to say some interesting things, to say the least."
Meanwhile, on NBC's "Meet the Press," New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, took the bait when given a chance to discuss why she would be qualified to be president (a question David Gregory asked her after she mentioned that anyone chosen to be vice-president needs to be ready to be president.) She replied to Gregory that she's more experienced than Obama was when he was elected president in 2008.
"I have—some would say—better experience than Barack Obama had when he was a senator and ran, having been the chief law enforcement officer of my state," Ayotte said. "I serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. But again, what it comes down to for me, it's serving New Hampshire."
She also named Rubio and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman as possible contenders for vice president.
And while Newt Gingrich may have dropped his own candidacy for president, that doesn't mean he's gone. On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, the former House speaker joked that it would be "inconceivable" for his old rival Mitt Romney to choose him.
"Would you pick me?" he said during an interview with Bob Schieffer. "I am so much my own agent, it would be—it's inconceivable."
"Romney is going to pick someone who is younger," he predicted.
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