Can Marco Rubio get his mini-Dream Act thru his own party?

On NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, New York Times columnist David Brooks said Marco Rubio is no longer being considered a serious contender to be Mitt Romney's running mate later this year, saying that is "the conventional wisdom among Republican donors and Washington officialdom."

Regardless whether that's true or not, the 40-year-old freshman U.S. Senator from Florida will continue to be prominently featured in the news this election year, and not just because of his upcoming memoir (as well as a biography written by a D.C. journalist coming out on him this summer). On Sunday he told CNN he's not only not thinking of becoming VP, but he may never run for president, despite the hype.

Trying to make some movement on the stale topic of immigration reform, Rubio has recently introduced his own watered-down version of the Dream Act, the legislation that would give in-state tuition rates, college scholarships and ultimately full citizenship to undocumented high school students in the U.S. Such federal legislation narrowly went down to defeat in the U.S. Senate in December of 2010, and Mitt Romney has said he does not support reviving it (Romney won't even support Rubio's plan).

Then again, Romney has been unrelentingly hostile on all issues regarding immigration this campaign cycle, leading Rubio to lightly criticize his party as not being positive enough when taking about Hispanic issues, since that demographic is the fastest growing one in the American electorate.

This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2012.