Martinez started off pretty solid, however he's since morphed into a real squishy moderate. No longer can his defenders claim he has a "100% ACU rating" like his first year in office. He was rated the 6th worst RINO in the Senate last year, with a pitiful ACU of only 60% (Source here: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31018 (The much hated "RINO" Lindsey Graham still has an conservative rating of 90% and didn't end up anywhere near the top 10)
You think Crist would be worse? I'm no Crist fan but I honestly don't see what makes him the evil socialist scumbag people on here claim he is. He's cozy with the RATs, sure, but on what issues he is a total leftist stooge? All I hear is "He's a homosexual" from the conservatives who have spent too much time being brainwashed by the "everyone famous who sounds remotely effeminate is gay" talking points of the gay lobby.
On what specific issues would Crist vote worst than Martinez's 60% ACU rating?
In short, I think both of them would make mediocre Senators, and I agree that Crist would simply be more of the same.
>> AG McCollum is likely to run for Governor if Crist does not. He leads CFO Alex Stink by 36-35. <<
Yet many conservatives here continue to perpetuate the myth that "only Martinez" could have won in 2004 (conveniently ignoring A) GWB got far more votes in FL than Martinez during the same election cycle; and, B) McCollum got far MORE votes in FL two years later when he ran in a big DEM sweep election year than Martinez got in a big GOP sweep year) ::sigh:: Would be nice if some conservatives would just admit "McCollum was the better candidate and I shouldn't have been duped by RINO Martinez' lies about McCollum" Wouldn't that be refreshing? And yes, McCollum ran a lousy Senate campaign in 2002. Good thing he learned from that race and has been a much better campaigner since then.
>> Marco Rubio is running for the Senate (and attacking Crist). Poltics1.com posits he will switch to the gubernatorial race if Crist runs for the Senate. I hope that is not the case. <<
Rubio's another rising star in the FL GOP that would make a very interesting candidate. I hope he's not discouraged from running. We have a number of great potential GOP candidates in this election cycle. It's annoying to see the FL GOP elite act as Crist is the only viable candidate (as they did five years ago with Martinez, and a great deal of freepers drank that kool-aid). We need to do more research on him and make sure his part record is not pro-amnesty like Martinez (Martinez is proof that anyone who claims to absolutely against amnesty cannot simply be taken at his word, especially when Martinez's background showed he was a loyal Bushbot who supported what GWB told him to)
McCollum was the better candidate and I shouldn't have been duped by RINO Martinez' lies. ;)
I failed to note Martinez slipped down to a 60. No, Crist won't be worse than that probably.
We need to do more research on him (Rubio) and make sure his part record is not pro-amnesty like Martinez
Yes, I can't ascertain that for certain.
Where was the evidence McCollum could win ? He bombed in 2000 against Nelson, a poor campaign. He was too much a risk to let him go a second time. We have been over this repeatedly.