Marco Rubio Plays Offense on Story of Youthful Mormonism

You've got to admire it.

After the website buzzfeed.com broke the story Thursday that Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio was baptized in the Mormon church as a young boy in Nevada -- only to leave it and return to Catholicism with his family several years later before the Rubios returned to Miami -- the senator's team handled it straightforwardly, confirming the accounts Nevada relatives gave the website and explaining that the episode would be detailed in a forthcoming autobiography.

On Friday, the office did even better, posting an "In case you missed it" item on Marco's government website, containing excerpts from various news sites on the subject.

Buzzfeed's article dwelt to some extent on how the Mormon revelation could affect Rubio's potential as a running mate for Mitt Romney, should Romney win the Republican presidential nomination. The article said parties seek to balance the national ticket by ethnicity, geography and religion, and Rubio's past as a Mormon might tilt that balance out of whack.

Maybe so, maybe not. But if the professional handling of this story is any indication of how Rubio and his staff would handle the rigors of a presidential campaign, and the responsibilities of the vice presidency, Mitt Romney -- and this country -- could do a lot worse.