TAMPA, Fla. â€" Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will take the stage at the Republican National Convention on Thursday with a critical assignment: introduce Mitt Romney before he delivers his acceptance speech for the presidential nomination. Here are five questions from an interview on Wednesday.
What parts of Mr. Romney still need to be introduced?
He's a modest guy. He doesn't like to brag about himself. But Americans deserve to know what a quality person he is â€" irrespective of whether they agree with him on an issue or not.
Are you giving people permission to be something of a “Cafeteria Romney†supporter â€" to overlook things they don't like?
There may be folks that are not going to vote for Mitt Romney, no matter what he stands for, but I want them to know who he is as a person. There might be others who are going to vote for him, but it's still good for them to know who he is and what he's acc omplished in his personal life.
More attention will be paid to his faith on Thursday, so is Mormonism, Christianity?
It's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm not a theologian. I don't get into theological debates about people's faith. All I can tell you is the Mormons that I know and many members of my family consider Jesus Christ to be their personal Lord and Savior, which is the heart of Christianity.
Has the debate over immigration caused permanent damage to the Republican brand?
I don't know about permanent damage. I wouldn't characterize it that way. I would say, I don't like every time that Republicans talk about immigration to be in the context of illegal immigration.
Will your speech be more like Ann Romney, Chris Christie or a different mold?
We all have a different job to do. Obviously, Ann Romney's job was to present Mitt Romney as a person. Chris Christie was the keynote addr ess to lay out a vision of what Republicanism means in the 21st century. And my role is to introduce Mitt Romney and hopefully do it in a way that frames it within a choice that this election presents the American people, which is a choice about what country we want to be.
