The Romney and Rubio Etch A Sketch

"You can legalize someone's status in this country with a significant amount of certainty about their future, without placing them on a path toward citizenship."

Marco Rubio, on his dubious immigration reform proposal.

Rubio is a potential running mate for Romney. Like Romney, Rubio is attempting to reset the Etch A Sketch with Hispanic voters.

By last week, he trailed Obama among Hispanic voters 67-27 in a new Pew Research Center survey. That's worse for Romney than the 67-31 margin Obama took in 2008 against McCain.

Romney appealed to Hispanics during a visit to Arizona Friday, hoping their concern about the economy will trump other issues.

There are other possible routes, many of them applauded by Republican officials meeting in Arizona who signaled the party grew too harsh in its approach in recent years.

Some mentioned the appeal of Romney naming a running mate such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Cuban American, or Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, a Mexican American.

Several said they'd support a plan by Rubio to propose a conservative version of the DREAM Act that would allow children of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States, albeit without a path to citizenship.

"We need to make it comfortable to be in the country. Not citizenship, but if they've been productive members of society, they should stay," said Glen McCall, a representative to the Republican National Committee from South Carolina.

This proposal does nothing to make a path to citizenship or give Hispanics an incentive not to enter America illegally. This is cynical politics at its worse.