Free Republic

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he is not flip-flopping when it comes to support of the federal stimulus package championed by Democrats, saying his comments earlier this week to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer were more about the actual stimulus legislation passed by Congress, and not the effort itself. “I think the question posed to me was, ‘Did you endorse this specific bill?’” Crist told reporters Friday after speaking to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices policy institute in Tampa. “And I said, ‘No, I didn’t,’ but the concept I thought, and still believe, was important, necessary and it helped...

The press release from the Florida Democratic Party called Thursday ``Charlie Crist's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.'' The description also applied to Wednesday. And Tuesday. And Monday. And to the week before that. And to the entire month of October. Let's be clear: The governor/would-be U.S. senator from Florida known for his groundbreaking fundraising is stuck in a record-shattering slump. The only way things could get worse is if Gennifer Flowers, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the guy who videotaped former Virginia Sen. George Allen making an ethnic slur all showed up at his doorstep in Tallahassee. It's...

Today FRC Action PAC, the political action committee connected to Family Research Council Action, is endorsing Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate representing Florida. Tony Perkins, President of FRC Action, made the following statement: "Marco Rubio has been a true friend of the family and the culture of life as a state legislator in Florida. Senators who will fight to defend the family against the radical leadership in the Senate are crucial to the future of our country. "Rep. Rubio has fought to protect mothers and their unborn children. He supported pro-life legislation that would require doctors to complete ultrasounds...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Charlie Crist is saying he did not endorse the $787 billion federal stimulus bill, a statement that might confuse some voters. Crist appeared with President Barak Obama in February to support the bill, asked Florida members of Congress to vote for it and previously told The Associated Press that he would have voted for it if he had been in the Senate. But when the Republican governor talked about the bill Wednesday on CNN, he said he didn't endorse it. Crist told CNN he understood that the bill was going to pass and wanted to...

There is a fight going on for the soul of the Republican Party, and the Tea Party protestors are its face. We are not going to be swayed by pleas not to rock tthe boat. We are not going to stop until the Republican leadership embraces candidates who will fight for smaller government, less regulation and a balanced budget. As I said in an earlier post, we may lose some battles, but we are out to win the war. Our tent is big enough to accomodate those with different social views, but when a competent conservative is running in a...

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010. Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and...

Much has been made over the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. For some, the attention might seem a bit much, given that it is merely one of 435 House seats. In reality, this race is about much more than one House seat. It is a proxy battle in the long-running war between establishment Republicans and grassroots conservatives. Although GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava endorsed the Democrat over Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, after quitting the race with three days to go, Hoffman looks poised to win

When a political party is out of the White House and in the minority on Capitol Hill, it's time for licking wounds. But it's also time to think ahead to who the next leaders of the Republican Party will be. Some of the main Republican contenders — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — are well-known. Others, like Florida Rep. Marco Rubio, aren't. Rubio, a conservative outsider and former speaker of the state House, is challenging former Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. There's an open seat next year because of...

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A proposed state guideline for dealing with an influenza pandemic is causing quite a stir. The Florida Department of Health is proposing that health care providers, notably hospitals, pull the plug on the most critically-ill patients in order to treat "healthier" patients.

"Outrage," a documentary that claims to expose closeted homosexuality among elected officials who have taken stances against gay rights issues - including, it says, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist - will make its cable television debut tonight. The film was in theaters last May. HBO is scheduled to begin showing it at 9 tonight. Director Kirby Dick said the message remains as important as ever. He said gays and lesbians are locked in the largest civil rights struggle in the United States today and his film examines hypocrisy among lawmakers that has set back the movement. "This is one of the...

Over the past few weeks, Florida GOP Gov. Charlie Crist has found himself being put on the defensive more and more in the primary thanks to the challenge by ex-state House Speaker Marco Rubio. While Crist has financially overwhelmed Rubio to date, there are many Republicans -- particularly those in Flordia that are close to former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush -- who have publicly become more comfortable airing their skepticism about Crist in public. One of those Republicans with close ties to the Bush family, Karl Rove, has signaled his preference with his wallet. Rove confirms to NBC News that...

LAKELAND | U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite is the second Florida member of Congress to endorse former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate. The announcement was made Friday by the Rubio campaign and Brown-Waite's staff confirmed the Brooksville Republican's decision to go with Rubio, who has staked out a position to the right of Crist. Brown-Waite's 5th Congressional District includes the northwestern quarter section of Polk County. Rubio is trying to pull the conservative wing of the party from Crist and has been successful in several nonscientific straw polls among county Republican executive committees....

Don’t tell Marco Rubio his primary race for the U.S. senate against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist depends on money or endorsements. Rubio, who finished his term as Florida’s Speaker of the House in 2008, is focused on a much bigger picture: limiting government and thus liberating American entrepreneurship. The impetus behind his campaign is that same wave of conservative outrage which carried Tea Party protesters to Washington and put Rubio’s race in the national spotlight. His race is about message (adherence to conservative principles), and, as Rubio says, the only amount of money he needs is the money to get...

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist is a Republican. But in so many ways, you wouldn't know it -- from championing felon rights to backing the federal stimulus package, he's bucked his party's agenda until now. Crist welcomed President Barack Obama to the Sunshine State with open arms seven months ago. The president was here to campaign for the stimulus. That was then and this is now. "There are concerns that we have about the direction of this administration," Crist said on CNN. Crist said the country won't vote for Obama again. The governor even hit national news Tuesday morning to...

A Florida GOP House member went against conventional wisdom and endorsed Marco Rubio for Senate on Thursday. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) joined Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) in backing Rubio (R), the former Speaker of the Florida House who is running a long-shot bid to replace Sen. George LeMieux (R). LeMieux was appointed earlier this month to fill out former Sen. Mel Martinez's (R) unexpired term. In the Republican primary, Rubio will face Gov. Charlie Crist (R), the popular first-term governor who leads by big margins in most polls. ....... So far, Rubio has attracted national attention in his quest. In...

AP: "That was embarrassing and shameful," said LeMieux, who watched the address from the House visitors' gallery. "Everybody in the chamber just gasped. He should be censured."

All of you former Right Up Front readers know of my undying affection and unyielding loyalty to Mitt Romney. Indeed, he is my first choice for the nomination in 2012. Now it looks like the Stormin' Mormon may be testing the waters for an encore run at the GOP knod. Politico's Jonathan Martin has the details. After a few stops in some early primary states and lavish fundraiser at a "trendy" Washington eatery, there are many reasons for any former Romney fan to be hopeful. And who better to go up against a now-obviously undisciplined current White House resident than...

Florida governor Charlie Crist is running for the Senate, and he isn’t supposed to lose — let alone lose in the Republican primary. He enjoys a high approval rating, has a history of success among voters, and raises campaign cash with the intensity of a Category 5 hurricane. His main opponent in the GOP primary is Marco Rubio, a 38-year-old Miami native who quotes Snoop Dogg lyrics on his Twitter account. On paper, it looks like a mismatch between an unbeatable juggernaut and a doomed also-ran. Yet Crist may be vulnerable: He warmly embraced President Obama’s stimulus spending and is...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Could it be divine intervention that's kept Florida safe from hurricanes since Gov. Charlie Crist took office? Crist said he isn't trying to take credit, but he told a group of real estate agents Friday that he's had prayer notes placed in the Western Wall in Jerusalem each year and no major storms have hit Florida.

Conservative Republicans in Florida may be rumbling about Charlie Crist’s run for the U.S. Senate, but so far the governor is well ahead of his chief 2010 GOP Primary challenger. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Sunshine State shows Crist leading former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio by 22 points among likely Republican Primary voters – 53% to 31%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and 11% are undecided. Still, the fact that Crist is barely above 50% in a primary against a much lesser known opponent suggests at least a potential vulnerability. This is the first...

Gov. Crist wants to be Sen. Crist, and to get there he's running in two very different races at once. That explains Gov. Crist's fixation on dishwashers and guns. Last week, Gov. Crist announced with fanfare "his commitment to increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions." He really was endorsing $17.5''million in federal rebates for Floridians to buy energy-efficient refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers and such. It's like the popular "cash for clunkers," but aimed at appliances instead of cars. This is a perfect polishing of the populist, moderate Charlie Crist. Middle-class voters who can't afford a new car can afford,...

Gov. Charlie Crist says his health-insurance idea should be a national model, even though it's done little to help Florida's uninsured. BY MARC CAPUTO TALLAHASSEE -- A success rate of less than a tenth of a percent might not sound like much, but to Gov. Charlie Crist it's campaign-trail bragging material for healthcare reform. Crist's new Cover Florida healthcare proposal has signed up only 3,757 people in a state with nearly four million uninsured. Meantime, an estimated 77,250 Floridians have lost health-insurance coverage since Cover Florida began releasing statistics in March. Yet Crist touts Cover Florida as a ``national model''...

With more than 18 million people in Florida, the issue of affordable health care has been a priority of my administration as Governor. We have found that lack of affordable health insurance coverage and the rising cost of prescription medicine to be the most significant health care challenges facing Floridians. Without health insurance coverage, the cost of health care can be staggering. Some fall into bankruptcy due to their inability to pay. To address these problems, we have instituted two programs in Florida. Our Cover Florida Health Care program and the Florida Discount Drug Card were created by partnering with...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Mel Martinez, a native Cuban and a former chairman of the Republican Party, stunned supporters on Friday by informing them that he plans to resign from Congress, party aides said. Martinez, 62, who earlier said he would not run for a second Senate term next year, scheduled a news conference in Orlando, Florida, at 3 p.m. EDT to make an announcement. In a letter to "friends," a copy of which was obtained by Reuters from a supporter of the senator, Martinez said he planned to step down after a replacement is named. "My priorities have always...

After drawing criticism from a Republican foe for not taking a position on Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor, Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Crist Tuesday announced he opposes her nomination. "While I have not had the opportunity to meet personally with Judge Sotomayor -- a crucial step in the selection process -- I have reviewed and reflected upon her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and come to the conclusion that I cannot support her appointment to the United States Supreme Court," said Crist, who is seeking retiring GOP Sen. Mel Martinez's seat.

Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl, an Arizona conservative, says he'll vote against Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court. While Kyl's opposition is not a major surprise, he is a key member of the Judiciary Committee, and his "no" vote may encourage other Judiciary Republicans to vote no. Kyl was undecided as early as yesterday. Republicans are privately predicting Sotomayor could get as many as 70 yes votes on her Senate confirmation, but a party line vote out of Judiciary could keep that number a bit lower. ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg has more: "Calling her Judiciary Committee testimony 'evasive, lacking...

Charlie Crist is in the Hamptons begging for campaign funds. Why? Charlie’s trophy wife’s ex isn’t happy….

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio plans to continue his campaign for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez, despite having a sizable deficit in fundraising compared to the other Republican candidate Charlie Crist, according to a report in the Washington Post. Chris Cillizza of the Post said Rubio will be in Washington, DC on Wednesday for meetings and is expected to "re-assert his commitment to the race." Rubio has garnered some national support, most notably former Arkansas governor and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee. Experts believe Rubio will try and turn the race into a referendum on...

Sen. John Cornyn’s Facebook friends aren’t in a very friendly mood. The Texas Republican’s page on the popular social networking website has been filled with comments like this one from a Florida real estate broker: “As soon as I read of your endorsement of Charlie Crist, I sent in a donation to the Marco Rubio campaign.” A new Facebook group has since cropped up challenging members to give “not one penny” to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), of which Cornyn is chairman. The online group’s description says: “First they supported Chafee. Then they supported Specter. Now they support Crist.”...

In the weeks before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation, she spoke privately with a range of prominent Republican officials – including former Vice President Dick Cheney and former mayor Rudolph Giuliani. It's not clear, from records or interviews, who may have been courting who, and none of the men have made comments suggesting Palin hinted at any future plans. But the calls underscore Palin's position among prominent Republicans. This May, documents indicate, Palin called former Vice President Dick Cheney; former New York City mayor and GOP presidential primary contender Rudolph Giuliani; and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is...

The $10K per-person host list of Gov. Charlie Crist's NRSC fundraiser tonight illuminates just how much the Republican establishment believes the Florida Senate primary next year is a lock. This who's who of GOP lobbyists wouldn't lend their names to such an event if they didn't think Crist would be the nominee. The only upside for Marco Rubio, Crist's Republican opponent and the former state House Speaker: If he was having any trouble formulating a message about party big-shots in Washington trying to determine what is best for Florida Republicans, that task just got easier.

Marco Rubio overwhelmed Charlie Crist in an important straw poll conducted by the Pasco County Republican Executive Committee last night. Pasco county borders just to the north of Crist’s home county of Pinellas. Pasco county chairman Randy Maggard conducted the straw poll to determine which candidates were preferred by the majority of the executive committee. Marco Rubio won with a overwhelming vote of 73 votes to Charlie Crist’s 9.

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may have a tepid relationship with fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, but he's giving GOP rising star and 2010 Senate candidate Florida Gov. Charlie Crist a thumbs up. According to Crist's Web site, McConnell gave the governor a full-throated endorsement. "Decisions are being made every day in Washington that have a direct impact upon the lives of all Americans and we need Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate to ensure that those decisions will benefit the citizens of Florida.” Crist, McConnell and other party luminaries are slated to attend a campaign fundraising...

Florida’s Republican Governor Charlie Crist is getting a big boost for his U.S. Senate bid from a bevy of GOP A-listers. Helping to raise money for Crist in Washington are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The power trio will be on hand – along with yet other Republican luminaries – to help attract major donors at an event for Crist slated for June 22 at the NRSC, according to a report in The Hill, which obtained an invitation. The week...

TAMPA - Gov. Charlie Crist has a whopping lead over former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, according to a poll released this morning. Crist leads Rubio, 54 percent to 23 percent, for the 2010 primary nomination for the seat now held by Republican Mel Martinez, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, from South Florida, leads the Democrats with 18 percent of voters, but 57 percent say they are still undecided. "Marco Rubio says there are many Florida Republicans who don't want Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate," Quinnipiac pollster...

Former U.S. Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) announced Monday, via YouTube, he intends to challenge Governor Charlie Crist and former Florida House of Representatives Speaker Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for Florida’s vacant Senate seat in 2010. Echoing Rubio’s conservative sentiments, the Florida snowbird said his entry into the already-crowded primary was precipitated by the Republican Party establishment’s unacceptable lurch to the left. “I can’t stand by and watch what is happening to our country – and our Party,” Smith said in his online address. Smith’s new-found moral compass and concern for the direction of his country and of the...

Link only, per FR posting policy

Tallahassee - Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law a $1-per-pack cigarette tax hike Wednesday - the biggest of its kind in Florida history -- saying he hopes to kill the habit that results in thousands of deaths every year. "I view it more as a health issue than a tax issue," said Crist, a Republican who broke with a career-long opposition to tax increases. " Ronald Reagan used to say if you want to kill something, tax it. It wouldn't be bad if we killed smoking. It would save a lot of lives." As of July 1, Florida's new cigarette...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has rolled out a succession of endorsements from national Republicans since announcing his entrance into the 2010 Senate race. Now his Republican primary rival, former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio, has a national endorsement of his own from a conservative heavyweight: Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor will formally endorse Rubio in about two weeks, according to a Florida Republican familiar with the plans. The details of where the endorsement will take place have not been decided.

Over the past week, I have repeatedly heard from Republicans troubled by the rumors that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, the National Republican Senatorial Committee's choice in the 2010 Senate primary, is gay. At age 52, Crist had never wed until he married Florida businesswoman Christine Rome two weeks before Christmas last year. Those who profess concern about "civility" would say -- or at least, should say -- that the rumors are thereby disproven. But . . . Let me share with you a message I received yesterday from someone I don't know, and who wishes to remain anonymous: I have...

Last year I supported Sen. John McCain for president. Despite these efforts, the American public chose Barack Obama as the person they wanted in the White House to confront the worst financial market turmoil since the Great Depression and the worst recession in a generation. Regardless of whom they voted for Nov. 4, he is our president, and every patriotic American should hope he succeeds in ending the economic problems that now beset our country. Soon after his inauguration, the president signed legislation aimed at stimulating economic growth. Many good and decent people opposed this measure, and some even offered...

When Marco Rubio declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate earlier this month, he said his campaign wasn’t “against anyone or anything.” On the Spanish language Univision Network, however, his tone was as different as the idiom, saying he was interested in combating “the kind of American Socialism that they want to establish in the U.S.” Last Friday night in Tampa, I asked the former House speaker, who will compete head to head against Gov. Charlie Crist for the nomination to succeed Mel Martinez in the Senate next year, what exactly did he mean by that? “The tax plan that the...

Now a U.S. Senate candidate, Crist calls backing 'pragmatic.' BY LUDMILLA LELIS DAYTONA BEACH - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, now a U.S. Senate candidate, said he would have made the "pragmatic" decision to vote for the federal stimulus bill, differentiating himself from fellow candidate Marco Rubio and the man he is trying to replace -- Mel Martinez. Speaking to a politically mixed crowd in Daytona Beach, Crist emphasized his support for the bill as practical and pragmatic, though it would have meant crossing Republican party lines. Only three Republican Senators backed the stimulus bill, and Martinez wasn't one of them....

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, midway through his term in office, announced he will run for the U.S. Senate seat that’s opening up next year when Sen. Mel Martinez retires. We'd like to know how you feel about Crist's announcement, and why. Will you vote for Charlie Crist in his Senate run? ( ) Yes, he’ll be more effective in D.C. than Tallahassee. ( ) It’s too early to decide. ( ) No. ( ) No, I’m going to vote for a conservative.

Listening to Marco Rubio, one can almost hear what the Gipper would say: “One day a young, well versed, bright son of immigrants, who is every bit as passionate about the words and ideals of our Founding Fathers as Americans were in their time (probably interjecting with one of his typical self-effacing quips: “I know, I was there”) will be president. Let’s just make sure he’s a Republican.” In Marco Rubio, the Gipper would be proud. In Marco Rubio, Ronald Reagan would also find an heir to his legacy in more ways than one. But before I explain how Rubio...

This week’s endorsement of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist by senior Senate Republicans is being cheered by GOP senators as a move toward the middle. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) endorsed Crist over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, a protégé of former Gov. Jeb Bush and a more conservative candidate. The decision by McConnell and Cornyn was the first such choice since last month’s defection of Arlen Specter to the Senate’s Democratic conference. Moderate GOP senators like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine used that opportunity to publicly warn the...

Crist made it official with an email announcement that he's running for US Senate in 2010. Shortly after, the other declared Republican candidate Marco Rubio issued his own email - a youtube ad characterizing the race as a battle for the soul of the GOP. The ad ends with a photo of President Obama and Gov. Crist and the statement "let the debate begin." Crist supported the Democratic President's stimulus package and defended his position during a brief news conference. "We do things a little bit differently here in Florida and that's another reason that I run for the US...

The expected announcement Tuesday by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist that he’s running for the Senate would seem to be a rare bit of good news for beleaguered Republicans. But while Crist is a brand-name recruit with sky-high approval ratings and bipartisan appeal, his path to keeping the seat of retiring Sen. Mel Martinez in GOP hands has at least one significant roadblock: Sunshine State conservatives. Despite Crist’s widespread popularity, he faces a primary in which he will have to make his case to a restless GOP base dissatisfied with his high-profile advocacy for President Barack Obama’s stimulus and his handling...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) will be announcing Tuesday that he will be running for the Senate, according to a source close to the governor, giving Republicans their most high-profile recruit of the 2010 election cycle. Crist's decision puts Republicans in strong position to hold onto the seat held by retiring Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) Crist holds high approval ratings among both Republicans and Democrats, according to statewide polling, and has forged a moderate governing style that has won him widespread support. His decision to run came as little surprise to political observers, with the governor and his allies hinting...

Tabloid cinema sinks to a new low, with Kirby Dick's gay bashing documentary, Outrage. This gossip mongering doc, bolstered by that 'unidentified sources' school of sensationalistic journalism, salivates on screen in a crusade mounted to drag out of the closet suspect gay politicans, and ruin their lives and careers via multiplexes everywhere. Is the homophobic mass media the culprit here? Hardly. It's the self-righteous extremist elements of the gay community, in a rabid and tasteless, if you can't join them, beat them sexual orientation witch hunt. Fueled by a kind of catch more slandered self-hating gays with vinegar than honey...