Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Sunday that the Republican Party must reduce its tough, anti-immigration rhetoric and policies if it hopes to draw Hispanic voters to its ranks.

Mitt Romney’s economic message has some appeal, Bush said. But he was tempered in his assessments of the GOP’s prospects of doing well with Hispanic voters this fall

“I think Gov. Romney can make inroads if he focuses on how can we create a climate of job creation and economic growth,” Bush said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “And that’s what I think this fall’s campaign will be about. I think people will move back toward the Republican side.

“But we’ve got to have a better tone going forward over the long haul, for sure,” Bush said. “You can’t ask people to join your cause and then send a signal that you’re really not wanted. It just doesn’t work.”

About his own White House ambitions, Bush demurred.

“You know, I don’t think about it,” Bush said. “I’m not motivated by it. It takes an incredible amount of discipline and ambition to even think about aspiring to it. And I’m not there yet in my life.”

Bush repeated, however, his earlier view that 2012 would’ve been a good time for him to run.

“It wasn’t the right time for me,” Bush said. “I’m excited about supporting Mitt Romney.”

Once the anti-establishment candidate, Gov. Rick Scott is full of praise – without officially endorsing – Mitt Romney, who’s garnered the support of some of the Sunshine State’s top GOP insiders.

Scott has defended Romney’s business background and today told CNN‘s Candy Crowley that Hispanic voters prefer the former Massachusetts governor because of his family values.

Scott’s comments come as Romney and Newt Gingrich sweep the state hoping to nail down the all-or-nothing convention delegate prize on Tuesday’s primary, with a lot of the focus on the state’s Latino voters crucial to the GOP primary.

This morning on CNN’s State of the Union, Crowley asked Scott about a recent poll show Romney outstripping Newt Gingrich among Hispanic voters by 49-23 percent.

“Look, the Latino vote cares about family. I mean, if you look at Gov. Romney’s family, he’s been very successful. He’s built a great family, very committed to his wife,” Scott said. “He’s somebody that’s been successful in life. So I think if they look at his background, it’s what they want. They care about their families. They care about, you know, somebody that’s been successful in business. That’s what they care about. So I think that’s part of what his attraction to the Latino vote.”

Gingrich’s campaign recently yanked a Spanish-language ad accusing Romney of being “anti-immigrant” after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio blasted scolded the former speaker of the House over the ad.

And Romney scored one of his best lines on the thorny immigration issue during Thursday night’s debate in Jacksonville after Gingrich said Romney’s immigration stance would result in rounding up grandmothers who’ve lived for years in the country illegally.

“Our problem isn’t 11 million grandmothers,” Romney said. “Our problem is 11 million people getting jobs that many Americans, legal immigrants, would like to have.”

With recent polls showing Romney surging in the polls on Florida, Scott told Crowley “it sure looks like Gov. Romney’s going to win” and again said the candidates should be discussing their jobs plans instead of trading barbs.

Scott lauded Romney’s business background but did not say whose jobs plan he prefers.

“They all have plans,” he said.