Romney to Rubio on VP Pick: ‘You’re Going to Be Excited’
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — It was just hours before Mitt Romney would unveil Paul Ryan as his running mate, but Florida Senator Marco Rubio didn’t know anything about it. Rubio spent the evening out on a boat with his children, away from his phone, which showed four missed calls from Romney when the group returned.
When Rubio finally did get in touch with the candidate, Romney said — according to remarks Rubio made Wednesday, first reported by the Palm Beach Post’s George Bennett — “We’re going to be announcing our VP tomorrow and you’re going to be excited about the pick I’ve made.”
That pick, of course, was Ryan. But Rubio took the decision in stride, telling Romney, “Well, that’s really good news because I just bought a four-day cruise. ”
Rubio is the second vice presidential also-ran to tell his story this week. On Monday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gathered reporters on the Asbury Park boardwalk to recount his exchange with Romney.
Christie was headed home after raising money for the ticket out west, he said, when Romney emailed, asking to speak when the governor’s plane landed.
When they finally connected over the phone, “[Romney] told me that he decided to go in a different direction for vice president, asked me if I would be willing to do the keynote address [at the Republican convention]. I told him that I would be.”
Christie had flirted with a primary run of his own, but eventually demurred. Once Romney emerged as the presumptive nominee, he denied having any interest in joining the ballot.
But even then, Christie admitted the decision stung a bit.
“It’s like being asked out on a date. If you’re asked, you don’t have to say yes,” he said. “I don’t know what I would have done if he had asked me.”
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio