Rubio: "I am not going to be the vice presidential nominee"

Florida Senator Marco Rubio said Wednesday he is not interested in the vice president's slot on the 2012 Republican presidential ticket, and that if offered it, he'd say no.

"I am not going to be the vice presidential nominee," he said, in an interview for the Atlantic's third annual Washington Ideas Festival. "I'm not focused on that - I'm focused on my job right now."

"I don't crave it," Rubio added, of the vice presidency. "I wanted to be a United States senator."

The first-term Florida senator and rising GOP star has been widely considered a top contender for the Republican vice presidential shortlist in 2012.

Still, Rubio says he doesn't plan to use his job as senator as a "launching pad" for another political office, and argued that "the United States Senate is still an important, I think, very important institution."

Would he turn down the vice presidential slot on the 2012 ticket, then, if offered it?

"I believe so," he said.

"The answer's probably going to be no," Rubio added, before laughing and amending his statement. "The answer's going to be no."

The Florida Republican also reiterated his desire to see a comprehensive overhaul of current immigration laws, and noted that, when it comes to the Republican party, "We cannot be the anti-illegal immigration party."

"We have to be the pro legal immigration party," he said.

Rubio, whose parents fled Cuba in 1956, has in the past supported a policy granting in-state tuition to some undocumented immigrants - a measure similar to the one presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry has taken heat for in recent weeks.

Now, Rubio says, "While I think that states have a right to do these sorts of policies... I don't think that's the best way to do it."

"Immigration has to be addressed at the federal level," he said.