The reason why Rubio might (stress might) be able to gain more hispanic votes has nothing to do with his race. It is only because a lot of people think he can utilize his charisma to articulate a theme or a campaign of opportunity and embracing the American Dream that will appeal to large numbers of Hispanics. Rubio on his own could do far better with hispanics then as VP for someone else.
Plus VP doesn't mean all that much anyway and if someone thinks they can pick a candidate with the intent of taking advantage of ID politics they are mistaken.
It's a bit like the Obama phenomenon, right? Being black, on its own, was not a good enough reason for people to vote for Obama. But it did excite people and unlock the demographic for some gains--Obama just had to turn the key. He had the charisma to do it.
Rubio or Martinez unlocks the
potential for Romney to make gains with Hispanics, but he still needs to actually appeal to them to win.
