Federico de Jesus, a Democratic political consultant, said Rubio isn’t likely to be appealing beyond the GOP voting Hispanics. Rubio’s immigration position is similar to Sen. John McCain’s, Obama’s opponent in 2008, he said. McCain stayed out of the immigration reform bill negotiations and backed away from the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill that he crafted with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. He also pressed for border security first. Hispanics voted 2-to-1 for McCain (sic), according to Pew.
“He had the potential to get a lot of the Latino vote, but at the end it was disastrous for him with the Latino population,” de Jesus said. “Marco Rubio is trying to walk the same line.”
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