Rubio for Vice President.

[JohnathanOHughes]

Anybody would be an idiot not to pick Rubio as V.P., he would get the Republicans the Hispanic vote, which was the reason why they lost last election, and he is extremely popular in a key battle state, Florida. The only person who would be idiotic enough not to pick him would be Trump. I believe Cruz will get the nomination and pick Rubio and it will come down to Ohio, but the battle changes from place to place so much its almost unpredictable!

[Zioneer]

Cubans are not the Hispanic vote. Most of the other Hispanic nationalities don't like Cubans that much, so someone like Cruz or Rubio would not help the Republicans simply by being Hispanic.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Hispanics are not the reason Republicans lost in 2012. Mitt Romney could have gotten 70% of the Hispanic vote and still lost. Republicans would be better served by improving their numbers with blacks instead.

[Zioneer]

Hispanics are not the reason Republicans lost in 2012. Mitt Romney could have gotten 70% of the Hispanic vote and still lost. Republicans would be better served by improving their numbers with blacks instead.

Good luck on that, considering the Southern white portion of the Republican base, and the ingrained negative attitude African-Americans have towards the GOP at this point.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

There's no guarantee Rubio would help with Hispanics, but in any case, the Republican path to victory is about more than that. They need to come close to or match Bush '04 levels among all minorities, not just Hispanics, and match Romney's numbers among whites (among whom Romney outperformed Bush).

[Virginiá]

Hispanics are not the reason Republicans lost in 2012. Mitt Romney could have gotten 70% of the Hispanic vote and still lost. Republicans would be better served by improving their numbers with blacks instead.

That is probably a better short term strategy (if they could somehow pull it off, which I doubt), but long term, and by that I mean within 10-15 years or so, they will not be able to ignore them any longer (but in my opinion they need to start effectively courting them now, as they can't just flip a switch and bring in new Hispanic voters). They'll have even less time if immigration reform passes and brings in millions of new Democratic-leaning voters.

If they keep bringing in these terrible numbers with Hispanics, they will lose Florida in presidential elections and eventually gubernatorial as well. They can't realistically expect to win the White House without Florida. Then you have Texas, which is a ticking time bomb should immigration reform pass.

And I'm not even factoring in what happens if/when Hispanic turnout begins to approach white/black levels. It will eventually happen for one reason or another, just like it did for African Americans, who whose turnout wasn't that great even into the 90s.

Edit: when i say 10~ years, that is assuming the GOP makes inroads with the AA vote

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Hispanics are not the reason Republicans lost in 2012. Mitt Romney could have gotten 70% of the Hispanic vote and still lost. Republicans would be better served by improving their numbers with blacks instead.

Good luck on that, considering the Southern white portion of the Republican base, and the ingrained negative attitude African-Americans have towards the GOP at this point.

Which means they have nowhere to go but up. Blacks also are a larger portion of the population than Hispanics in nearly every swing state (exceptions: Florida and Colorado) and are also the only reason that a small group of blue states are blue.

Any immigration reform that passes a Republican House will be enforcement first, legalization later, and citizenship only when the federal government can prove to congressional Republicans that they intend to enforce the law as written, the border with Mexico is secure, and we have effective systems in place to identify and prosecute visa overstays and ensure that the hiring of illegal immigrants is prohibited as much as is practically possible. Republicans already think that what Democrats want out of immigration reform is new Democratic voters to create a new permanent majority, so they will be very skeptical of anything Democrats put forward on this issue.

You must also factor in that migration from Hispanic countries is a net zero right now and that the growth in Hispanic population is from Hispanics who are already here. With each successive generation of removal from immigrant ancestors, Hispanics become less Democratic (immigrants are the most Democratic, 2nd-generation are less Democratic than immigrants, 3rd-generation less Democratic than 2nd-generation, etc.), so you'd expect that they would become more Republican over time unless Republicans further alienate them.

[Hillary pays minimum wage]

I'd like for him to be the VP choice.

[Zioneer]

Hispanics are not the reason Republicans lost in 2012. Mitt Romney could have gotten 70% of the Hispanic vote and still lost. Republicans would be better served by improving their numbers with blacks instead.

Good luck on that, considering the Southern white portion of the Republican base, and the ingrained negative attitude African-Americans have towards the GOP at this point.

Which means they have nowhere to go but up. Blacks also are a larger portion of the population than Hispanics in nearly every swing state (exceptions: Florida and Colorado) and are also the only reason that a small group of blue states are blue.

Any immigration reform that passes a Republican House will be enforcement first, legalization later, and citizenship only when the federal government can prove to congressional Republicans that they intend to enforce the law as written, the border with Mexico is secure, and we have effective systems in place to identify and prosecute visa overstays and ensure that the hiring of illegal immigrants is prohibited as much as is practically possible. Republicans already think that what Democrats want out of immigration reform is new Democratic voters to create a new permanent majority, so they will be very skeptical of anything Democrats put forward on this issue.

You must also factor in that migration from Hispanic countries is a net zero right now and that the growth in Hispanic population is from Hispanics who are already here. With each successive generation of removal from immigrant ancestors, Hispanics become less Democratic (immigrants are the most Democratic, 2nd-generation are less Democratic than immigrants, 3rd-generation less Democratic than 2nd-generation, etc.), so you'd expect that they would become more Republican over time unless Republicans further alienate them.

Here's the thing: what exactly could the Republicans do to embrace issues that African-Americans (and other voters, but especially them) care about? How exactly can they outflank the Democrats on those issues?

As for your last sentence, the "unless Republicans further alienate them" is key.

Also, just as traditionally Democratic ethnic minorities are becoming slightly more Republican, traditionally Republican ethnic minorities (the anti-communist types, like Cubans, Vietnamese, Korean, etc) are also becoming more Democratic. I mean heck, look at what happened to the Muslim-American population. In one fell swoop the Republicans lost that vote (which is rising whether or not the whole Syrian refugee thing shakes out) for a long, long time. And it used to be a Republican vote!

I'm not saying "DEMOGRAPHICS" will ensure a majority for Democrats, but the Republicans have a lot of work to do.

[The Arizonan]

The Hispanics are not some monolithic voting bloc. They consist of several nationalities that don't vote identically.

It's the same thing with the "Catholic bloc" or the "Catholic vote".

[Xing]

Hispanics will not just vote for any candidate who happens to be Hispanic.

[Virginiá]

Hispanics become less Democratic (immigrants are the most Democratic, 2nd-generation are less Democratic than immigrants, 3rd-generation less Democratic than 2nd-generation, etc.), so you'd expect that they would become more Republican over time unless Republicans further alienate them.

Is there actually any proof for this? Because Hispanics have been voting 60%+ Democratic for many decades now. In fact, in terms of party affiliation, Hispanic Millennials are more Democratic than some of their older counterparts:

http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/2014-party-identification-detailed-tables-hispanic/

I'm not willing to chalk up the small uptick in Republican-leaning younger Millennials until we have more data, as all Millennials trended slightly more Republican due to the recession. So unless you have some reliable data, I think you might have it backwards.

[Zioneer]

Hispanics will not just vote for any candidate who happens to be Hispanic.

Of course you're right, but that's the only reason Castro is considered a possible VP candidate.

Then the Dems are being as foolish as the Republicans on this issue. Castro is not the greatest pick. Besides, Xavier Becerra is a far superior pick.

[Hatman 🍁]

Not after these gay rumours

[Xing]

Hispanics will not just vote for any candidate who happens to be Hispanic.

Of course you're right, but that's the only reason Castro is considered a possible VP candidate.

And anyone with an IQ higher than Castro's age knows that he would be a terrible VP pick.

[Brewer]

Not after these gay rumours

[Zioneer]

Not after these gay rumours

The what rumors? I've never heard of this particular rumor.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Not after these gay rumours

The what rumors? I've never heard of this particular rumor.

some lame  atlas/aad joke

[Bacon King]

some lame  atlas/aad joke

Huh? It's all over reddit and twitter - definitely a scandal that's starting to gain some serious traction

https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/42cvjr/something_very_interesting_some_friends_and_i/
https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/42d1nl/marco_rubios_arrest_in_1990_was_for_having_public/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Drama/comments/42e28f/marco_rubio_was_arrested_for_having_gay_sex_at/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miami/comments/42eglz/marco_rubio_suspected_of_having_gay_sex_in/