I’m with a small group of reporters in a D.C. coffee shop, chatting with Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio. He just mentioned that there are two parts within the Obamacare legislation that he doesn’t want repealed.* The first is the ban on insurance companies denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and the second is that he thinks that children up to age 26 should be allowed to “buy into” their parents’ coverage.

Other bits from our chat:

“The reaction to the oil spill shows the federal government isn’t just broke, it’s broken.”

“You would think that by now we would have every skimmer on the face of the earth working in the Gulf coast.”

“There’s a sense in America that we’re the only country on the planet that’s afraid to enforce our border laws.”

“Arizona has a 10th Amendment right to provide for the security of its residents.”

“If you want to stop more Arizona-style laws in other states, secure the border . . . I think the lawsuit against Arizona will fail.”

Rubio, on his rise, lists Jim DeMint, Mike Pence, and “the fact that National Review put me on the cover was a big deal.”

* UPDATE: Team Rubio seeks to clarify:

Marco believes the health care law should be repealed — all of it. And in its place, we should adopt common sense reforms for which broad agreement exists. Some of these ideas were lumped in with the monstrosity of the final bill. He outlined those today. They were the same ones included in Republican alternatives, including the Coburn plan, which Marco highlighted at the time as a good piece of legislation.