Marin still expects to speak at convention

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Former U.S. Senate candidate Rosario Marin said she still believes she'll have a speaking role at the Republican National Convention, but she's not sure if she'll speak Wednesday or Thursday.

Marin, a member of the California delegation to the convention, said her speech will focus on the need for ongoing government reform to fit with a theme that presumptive Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain has embraced.

"I think what people want is for government to work for them," Marin said. "I believe government has a place."

But as a Republican, she added, she believes it's necessary to have limited government and leaders with vision and a commitment to reform to make it most effective.

Marin, a former U.S. Treasurer who now serves as California's Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, gave as an example one of her experiences in state government.

When she came on, the state was falling short of an executive order to do business with 25 percent more small businesses than during previous administrations, she said. Getting a business certified to do so took weeks, Marin said.

"Today, it takes 15 minutes to be certified," she said, and the percentage is now at 28.3 percent and climbing.

The original convention schedule for Tuesday featured Marin as a speaker, the only one from California. The schedule shuffle necessary after Monday's convention events were curtailed bumped Marin to another, as-yet-unspecified day, she said.

Marin said she feels McCain (R-Ariz.) is in good shape in California for the fall, and noted that both U.S. Congress and the California State Legislature - both controlled by Democrats - have very low approval ratings.

But because she's focused on McCain's campaign, she said, she couldn't say what state races where she believes poor ratings for Democrats could mean gains for Republicans.

After losing in a 2004 Republican primary to former California Secretary of State Bill Jones in a bid for U.S. Senate, Marin said she's neither planning to run again for office nor ruling it out completely.

"Under the right circumstances, maybe," Marin said. "It's the farthest thing from my mind right now. I've got a very big job, and I'm using my weekends to work for Sen. McCain, and I've got a family on top of that."

EARLIER on PolitickerCA.com:

• No California speakers at convention's second night