Is he or isn’t he being considered?

Marco Rubio lacks experience and wisdom, say consultants

By the Progreso Weekly staff

(Editor’s Note: After reports that Romney advisors said Marco Rubio had be discarded as a possible presidential running mate, Romney himself said the media was wrong and that Rubio “is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process.”)

Mitt Romney’s political team has stopped considering Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as a possible candidate for vice president since Romney seeks politicians with greater experience – although with less charisma – wrote Philip Rucker today in The Washington Post.

Tuesday morning ABC News reported that the Romney campaign had not asked Rubio to fill out a questionnaire or present personal financial documents. A Romney advisor confirmed this to The Washington Post.

Another Romney advisor said the presidential candidate’s team held a preliminary investigation of Rubio, checking documents, declarations and news releases available to the public.

Other vice presidential candidates, among them Ohio’s Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, are being scrutinized with more intensity, Republicans with ties to the Romney campaign told the Post.

Although many of the conservative activists in the Republican Party back Rubio, Romney has said for some time that his priority is to select a partner with sufficient experience and wisdom to assume the presidency of the United States from one day to the next.

On Monday Romney said that he would not base his decision on the popularity of his running mate among the conservatives instead on the ability of that person to assume the presidency. “Obviously the decision will be made by me on a very different basis,” he told the Des Moines Register. “My criteria is who can be president if that were necessary.”

For several weeks, Romney aides have tried to dissipate the belief that Rubio was the vice presidential favorite.

“By the time you apply the gravitas test, which is really 95 percent of what Governor Romney’s looking at – people when introduced to America nobody would think twice about their ability to be president if necessary – that wipes out 90 percent of the field,” said one outside adviser close to the Romney operation.

The source said that other vice presidential candidates, like Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, will also probably be discarded. Running mates with more experience, like Rep. Paul Ryan and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, remain on the list of “viables,” The Washington Post was told.