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Conservative challenger Marco Rubio has surged into a dead heat in his Florida Senate campaign against establishment-backed Charlie Crist in a primary battle that is the first major test of the growing power of the "tea party" movement. Mr. Rubio's once-underdog candidacy, which has been trailing far behind the better-financed Republican governor for months, is suddenly catching fire, helped by the conservative Club for Growth and an army of tea party activists drawn by his unequivocal anti-tax, anti-big government campaign. The latest Rasmussen telephone poll showed Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and Florida's former speaker of the House,...

MIAMI -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has had a tough time lately in his bid for U.S. Senate, and things just got worse. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart confirmed Tuesday he and his brother, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, have rescinded their endorsement of Crist for the Republican primary. Mario Diaz-Balart said they notified Crist weeks ago and that he “left them no choice.” He added it was the first endorsement they’ve rescinded. Diaz-Balart recalled how he and his brother backed Bill McCollum’s unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Republican primary over fellow Cuban-American Mel Martinez, and supported Republican presidential candidate John McCain during...

Two Republican lawmakers and brothers jointly rescinded their backing of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate, using vague language to explain that they're out of the endorsement game. "We take our endorsements seriously, but the governor knows why we withdrew and he left us with no alternative," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, speaking on behalf of his brother, Mario. Balart Chief of Staff Ana Carbonell told Fox News said the brothers aren't going to turn around and back Crist opponent, former House Speaker Mario Rubio, who has moved up in primary polls ahead of next year's vote

‘Wow.” That was the response of a cynical Florida Republican politico recently reacting to poll numbers showing former state speaker of the house Marco Rubio tied with Gov. Charlie Crist. The two are expected to face one another in an August Republican primary for the Senate seat abandoned by Republican Mel Martinez. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, is wowing even the professionals; his performance is especially impressive because the weight of the Republican establishment is behind Crist, as it has been for most of the year — the National Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed him back in the spring. The...

Gov. Charlie Crist walked alone into Friday's meeting with The Miami Herald editorial board. His security detail stayed outside the glass door. There were no staff members juggling Blackberries and briefing books at his side. Just Crist, sitting at a conference table in shirt sleeves and a tie, at perhaps the lowest point of his political career. The interview came after another tough week. Polls showed the former presumptive Republican nominee tied or just a notch ahead of former House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami in the U.S. Senate race. Calls for his state party chief, Jim Greer, to resign...

He's pulled even in polls with powerhouse RINO, FL Gov. Charlie Crist!I often listen to WOKV AM-690 from Jacksonville, Florida whose signal carries well up the coast here to Hilton Head Island, SC. One day,I was shocked when I heard the following ad from Florida Governor Charlie Crist who is now running for the U.S. Senate in 2010: [AUDIO AT SITE] Sounds good hunh? So why was I shocked? Because it was only February that Gov. Crist was playing cheerleader for Obama and praising the failed stimulus bill: [VIDEO AT SITE] What's worse, now Crist is lying about his support...

There comes a time in politics when the particular details of a leader’s transgressions become a moot point. During his tenure as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, Jim Greer has reportedly presided over lavish and irresponsible spending of donor money, the purging of critics and the use of dirty tricks like fake Twitter accounts to attack fellow Republicans. He also has rammed through dictatorial rule changes that would make Fidel Castro blush and used the RPOF as a club in the service of a single Republican politician. -snip- Greer likes to blame his troubles on Marco Rubio supporters...

Scott Rothstein Almost Saved Us From Sarah Palin - Miami News - Riptide 2.0

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist responded this morning to questions about the latest Rasmussen poll, showing him in a 43-43 tie with Marco Rubio in the race for U.S. Senate. From Rasmussen Reports: "Crist's support has fallen from 53% in August to 49% in October. Rasmussen Reports noted at the time, 'The fact that Crist has fallen below 50% in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability.' "Rubio's name recognition has grown in recent months and he is now viewed Very Favorably by 34% of Likely Primary Voters. That's up from 18% in August. As his name...

FOX 13's exclusive Rasmussen polling shows Rubio tied with Crist at 43 percent. Fourteen percent of those polled were uncommitted to either candidate. YouTube - Ma3lst0rm's Channel

Election 2010: Florida GOP Senate Primary 2010 Florida GOP Senate Primary: Crist 43%, Rubio 43% Tuesday, December 15 Governor Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio are now tied in the 2010 race for the Republican Senate nomination in Florida. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters finds Crist and Rubio each with 43% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided. Crist’s support has fallen from 53% in August to 49% in October. Rasmussen Reports noted at the time, “The fact that Crist has fallen below...

"All the signs are in place for 2010 to be (as Marco Rubio suggested the other day) a costume party where liberal Republicans dress up as fiscal conservatives or perhaps just run on not being lunatic Democrats bent on national destruction."

In my interview with Governor Palin yesterday evening, we touched briefly on some current events, including President Obama's trip to Asia and the place of the tea-party movement in the Republican party. Some highlights: 1) I asked Palin about the anti-tax-and-spending tea parties. "I love the tea party movement," she said. "It's beautiful, it's healthy. It's part of that good healthy competition that's needed in a political party." She contrasted the somewhat tumultuous state of the GOP to what's going on in the Democratic party today. "It seems like the Democratic party is filled with more sheep-like individuals, who go...

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told National Review on Tuesday that she’s considering an endorsement in the Florida’s Republican U.S. Senate primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House speaker Marco Rubio: She says she’s had a chance to look at the Crist-Rubio race “just on the surface.” But she adds, “I’m just being asked about it really in the last week or two, so I’ll dig more into it. I’ll find out what the guys are holding in terms of positions and see where maybe I can help.” Keep in mind that her 2008 running mate, John...

(snip) Dickinson posted the transcript of that question and answer yesterday at Rolling Stone: Rolling Stone: Just a final question: Had you been in the Senate, would you have voted with the other Republicans for the stimulus package? Crist: Absolutely. (snip)

Six months ago, Charlie Crist looked like he could do no wrong. He had built a remarkable job-approval rating as Florida’s governor and looked like a shoo-in to hold the state in the red column. Then Crist decided to run for the Senate instead, hoping to replace the retiring Mel Martinez (R), and got an endorsement from the NRSC within hours even though conservative Marco Rubio had already filed to run for the nomination. Six months later, Crist suddenly looks vulnerable, and as Politico reports, he only has himself to blame: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is witnessing a sharp downturn...

Charlie Crist has always courted national media attention and lately -- for better or worse -- he's getting it in spades. There was the Wall Street Journal piece on disgraced lawyer/fundraiser Scott Rothstein, featuring a front-page image of Crist with Rothstein, inscribed, "Scott -- you are amazing! -- Charlie Crist."

Blogger Jordan Carmon catches Marco Rubio’s upstart Senate campaign putting together an ad against Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.)–his opponent in the 2010 GOP primary–that looks and sounds exactly like a hard-hitting ad then-presidential candidate Barack Obama ran against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008. Check out the ads. First, Rubio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hghjqOw3CBs Now, Obama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6reQLzgywzk Notice that the equivalent of the picture with Bush is a picture of Crist with Obama.

A Florida Republican Becomes a Right-Wing Target By KATE ZERNIKE November 15, 2009 NEWBERRY, Fla. — In retrospect, even Charlie Crist admits that “the optics” of The Hug are not great. President Barack Obama with Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, at a town hall meeting in Fort Myers, Fla., in February. Chip Litherland for the New York Times Gov. Charlie Crist, with his wife, Carole, drew protests at a Republican barbecue this month. It was in the glow of a new day in politics last February when Mr. Crist, this state’s popular Republican governor, took the stage with President Obama...

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential exploratory tour hits Florida today. There he could face a politically tricky question: Will he back Florida Gov. Charlie Crist or conservative darling Marco Rubio in next year’s U.S. Senate contest? Crist was initially expected to easily win the Republican nomination. But he’s come under attack from conservative activists for supporting President Obama’s stimulus package. Earlier this week, the Club for Growth announced its support for Rubio and launched a television ad attacking Crist. Pawlenty could be gun shy about wading into local political battles after his experience pontificating about the recent congressional contest in...

Who best represents the views of most Republican Party members in Florida? A) Governor Charlie Crist B) Former House Speaker Marco Rubio

I am beyond disappointed or hurt. I am personally offended. Do you idiots [RNC] never learn? There is no such thing as Republican or democrat anymore. Look at the rise of independents, goofballs! There is one thing every independent rejects, absolutely and completely: Being told that party registration of a candidate means adherence to a pre-set list of positions, that we somehow can't talk to people of different registrations. As Korn sang, Freak on a leash. I am at a complete loss to grasp the depth of your inability to understand modern politics.

lorida Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R) said on Monday that he would welcome the endorsement of ex-Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska). The conservative insurgent candidate challenging Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.) said that Palin's endorsement would be more than appropriate because they agree on nearly every issue. "I can't think of anything her and I disagree with off the top of my head," he told CBS News in an interview.

Club PAC Endorses Rubio in FL-Sen Press Release Club for Growth PAC Endorses Marco Rubio for U.S. SenateFormer Florida House Speaker 'the Real Deal,' Crist the 'Wrong Direction' WASHINGTON - Club for Growth PAC today endorsed Marco Rubio in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Florida. "Marco Rubio is the real deal, one of the brightest young stars in American politics today, and a proven champion of economic liberty," said Club President Chris Chocola. "He is a dynamic spokesman for the principles of limited government and economic freedom, and he will make a fantastic Senator." Rubio served in the Florida...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be distancing himself from his support for the stimulus bill Congress enacted earlier this year, but the White House isn't playing along. A day after Crist denied having endorsed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the governor's February appearance with President Obama in Fort Myers, Fla., left little doubt about his views on the law. "I think his words at that event speak for themselves," Gibbs said. "I think he was very supportive of the legislation and supportive of the benefits that it would have and has...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a heated race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, Gov. Charlie Crist keeps moving away from his support of President Barack Obama's stimulus package that the governor called "fantastic" and "remarkable" when lobbying for its passage. Faced with an increasingly difficult primary challenge from former House Speaker Marco Rubio of West Miami, the governor now claims he didn't endorse the $787 billion economic stimulus that included a generous contribution for Florida. "It seems to be the president's answer to almost every challenge that's facing our country is to spend more money," Crist said Thursday. He commented...

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...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who recruited Gov. Charlie Crist to run for Florida’s open Senate seat next year, said today that the National Senatorial Campaign Committee will not put money into the primary Republican battle with former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. “We will not spend money in a contested primary,” Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told ABC News.

Amid rumors that prominent Broward attorney Scott Rothstein has returned to town and may try to go to his law firm, Fort Lauderdale police on Tuesday surrounded his firm's building at 401 E. Las Olas Blvd. On Monday, the politically influential firm attempted to oust Rothstein amid a criminal investigation into his business dealings. The investigation into Rothstein, a major fundraiser for Gov. Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and other major politicians has left candidates in the lurch and the law firm reeling. The firm -- Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler -- was a top sponsor of a Fort Lauderdale...

The single biggest threat to Charlie Crist's political future probably isn't his U.S. Senate primary rival, Marco Rubio. It's former Gov. Jeb Bush, who could give Rubio an enormous boost if he chose to. A new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll underscores how much Bush's shadow still looms over Florida almost three years after he left office: Forty-six percent said they would rather have Bush leading Florida today, while 41 percent said Crist. More striking, 71 percent of Republicans would pick Bush as governor today, while only 22 percent of Republicans said they would pick Crist over Bush....

The single biggest threat to Charlie Crist's political future probably isn't his U.S. Senate primary rival, Marco Rubio. It's former Gov. Jeb Bush, who could give Rubio an enormous boost if he chose to. A new Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times/Bay News 9 poll underscores how much Bush's shadow still looms over Florida almost three years after him leaving office: Forty-six percent said they would rather have Bush leading Florida today, while 41 percent said Crist. More striking, 71 percent of Republicans would pick Bush as governor today, while only 22 percent of Republicans said they would pick Crist over Bush....

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s Senate campaign is accused of breaking campaign finance law by ghost-writing a negative website about his opponent in the Republican primary race. At issue is the new site, TruthAboutRubio.com, which launched this week and features hits on Crist primary opponent Marco Rubio, including suggesting Rubio's campaign was behind a video comparing Crist to Adolf Hitler. Redstate.com blogger Erick Erickson has been on the case, after a reader ran down the source code from the site. There, Erickson found a tag that appears to be connected to a longtime Crist adviser, Rich Heffley. Heffley is a Crist...

Talk about desperation. Charlie Crist has set up a fake website to cover the “truth” about Marco Rubio.. Why do I call it a fake website?The website has blog posts time stamped all the way back to 2007 even thought it was only created yesterday. (http://truthaboutrubio.com/) It tries to tie Marco Rubio to a Hitler video parody of Charlie Crist — a video Rubio condemned upon finding out about it (he should have gone after it for a lack of comedic value other than the sun tan jab), but that this Charlie Crist backed site is fixated on. Funny how...

Charlie Crist is the front runner in the Florida Senate race. He is also the incumbent Governor of Florida. By any reasonable measure, including fundraising, the Florida Senate race should be his for the taking. Except it is not happening for him. Charlie Crist is becoming so desperate that his campaign has descended to farcical parodies of Nixonian tactics. The campaign has decided to attack itself and blame Marco Rubio. We know this because, when caught, their lame cover up proved they were behind everything. Let’s review from the very beginning. Marco Rubio announced he would be running for the...

Did Charlie Crist and Rich Heffley Create the Charlie Crist Hitler Video? by Erick Erickson The plot thickens in Florida. A video popped up on YouTube on October 24, 2009, using the standard Hitler clip all the kids are using these days to mock Charlie Crist’s campaign. Naturally, it was an anonymous account. Three days later, the Crist campaign launched it’s anti-Marco Rubio website called truthaboutrubio.com. The star of the website was the Hitler video. The website ran a poll alleging Rubio’s campaign was behind the video and the website condemned Rubio for it. When RedState pointed out that Rich...

Video: Rubio on Morning Joe, Buchanan on Fox

...Among liberals and progressives, there is a puzzling admiration for Crist, long considered by Democratic and Republican veterans of Florida's political scene to be something of an opportunist if not a lightweight....

As expected, Marco Rubio has won another county Republican Party straw poll by a huge margin over Gov. Charlie Crist—this one in Palm Beach County by 90-17 — leaving Republicans and others to continue to debate over whether such votes matter. Rubio has already won straw polls of county Republican parties in Bay, Gilchrist, Hernando, Highlands, Jefferson, Lee and Pasco counties, many by lopsided margins — 75-1 in Highlands, for example. The vote tonight was different, however. The earlier ones were all in rural or suburban counties. Palm Beach is the first big urban county in which the Republican Party...

On the face, this kid has it.If he has no issues, this kid can win easily. As for comments I made on the race being the testing ground for conservatives?I still hold to the belief below on the Flordia Republican senate primary race being the testing ground for conservatives, but the New York race with Hoffman has added some interest in that it could become the catalyst in the conservative movement. You have to hand it to the bigwigs within the Republican party. They know how to run a duplicitous campaign on smaller government. It should be obvious now, that...

Marco Rubio capitalizes on a photo of Charlie Crist hugging Barack Obama. BY CARLOS MILLER Marco Rubio has less political experience than Charlie Crist. And he hasn’t raised nearly as much money in his run against the governor for U.S. Senate. And he still lags behind the governor in polls leading up the November race. But he hasn’t hugged Barack Obama. And that just may be his ace in the hole. The former republican House Speaker has seized on a February photo that shows Crist hugging Obama as to why he is the better candidate. And it appears to be...

Fred, Yesterday, we received a double dose of encouraging news in our effort to elect Marco Rubio to the U.S. Senate. Early in the morning, we learned about a new Quinnipiac poll showing Marco has cut Charlie Crist's Senate primary lead in half.  What was once a 55-26 margin is now down to 50-35. Late yesterday, a second poll was released by Rasmussen Reports.  While it showed a similar margin (49-35) in the Republican primary, it also showed Marco leading Democrat frontrunner Kendrick Meek by 15 points, 46-31. Thanks to supporters like you, we are making progress – not...

Time to pull the head out of the elephant's you-know-what. Earlier today, I sent this out to the Twitter hordes: NY-23 race is indicative of why Republican party won't be able 2 count on the support of, um, Republicans.I then had a couple of interesting conversations with some other bitter-clingers about what it's going to take before the current Republican party power brokers realize that the rest of us are giving them the finger. Maybe this. Or this. This is why it was so amusing when President "Don't Question Me" told his bobble heads that "Republicans do what they're told."...

Former Florida state House Speaker Marco Rubio, the conservative insurgent candidate in the Republican primary for Senate, appeared on the Fox Business Channel to draw contrast between himself and the moderate Gov. Charlie Crist -- and gave a very broad, telling statement about the direction of the Republican Party. Rubio attacked Crist for supporting President Obama's stimulus bill, supporting cap-and-trade, and for raising taxes and fees in Florida. "I don't believe that's the direction our party should head, and more importantly, I think now more than ever we need to send people to Washington, D.C., that will stand up to...

There is a new Rasmussen poll out today with very striking data. It polls hypothetical general election match ups between Democrat Senatorial candidate Kendrick Meek vs Republican Marco Rubio or Charlie Crist. The results are as follows: Charlie Crist- 46% Kendrick Meek-34% Marco Rubio-46% Kendrick Meek-31% These results are profound and striking for one simple reason. In light of the current conflict with the RINO GOP establishment in the special election of NY-CD-23, these results must be disseminated to debunk a common misconception. There is a narrative that has been promulgated by the RINO cesspool that the more liberal the...

Here’s a prime reason why Gov. Charlie Crist’s outgoing chief of staff, Eric Eikenberg, is already moving over to manage his Senate campaign – with nearly a year before the primary: Marco Rubio is rapidly catching up with the governor among Republican primary voters. A new Quinnipiac poll shows Rubio making significant gains in the Republican primary, and now only trails Crist 50 to 35 percent despite being less-known than the governor. That’s down from a 24-point Crist lead in August. Among Republicans, Rubio holds an outstanding net favorability rating, with 44 percent of Floridians approving of him with just...

ARCADIA, Fla. - A new Quinnipiac University poll out today shows that Republican candidate Marco Rubio, the former Speaker of the Florida State House is closing the gap between himself and front-runner Gov. Charlie Crist in the 2010 Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate. Rubio, has cut Crist's lead in half, according to the poll's results among Florida Republicans to 50-35 percent. "Gov. Charlie Crist's lead, which had been 29 points August 19, has come back down to earth. His margin is still formidable, but obviously Marco Rubio's focus on convincing Republican conservatives that he, not Crist, is their...

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― Governor Crist may be in for more of a battle in the Republican primary for the soon-to-be vacant Senate seat than he initially thought. According to a new poll from Quinnipiac University, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has cut Governor Crist's in half. Crist had a lead of 29 points in the Quinnipiac poll for Florida voters in mid-August. In the latest poll, conducted October 12-18, Crist's lead over Rubio had been cut to 15 points. Rubio has hammered Crist over the Governor's support of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan earlier in 2009. Both Crist and...

While his party leaders have lined up behind Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Senate primary next year, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) announced Monday that he was endorsing former state Speaker Marco Rubio. “I enthusiastically support Marco Rubio in his campaign for U.S. Senate,” Inhofe said in a statement released Monday afternoon. “Marco is exactly the type of conservative leader Americans need in Washington today fighting for the principles of limited government, individual liberty and personal responsibility.” In his endorsement, Inhofe also appeared to take an indirect shot at the more moderate Crist for backing President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus...

Marco Rubio's campaign for U.S. Senate, already picking up speed with fundraising, now has another endorsement to tout. The Buzz is U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Olahoma, will endorse the former Republican House speaker today. Rubio was previously endorsed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint.

Charlie Crist has begun airing the first radio ads of the U.S. Senate race – blasting President Obama for his freespending of taxpayer money, some of which the governor earlier endorsed. A pair of 60-second spots have begun airing statewide – one sending a “message” to Obama that “enough is enough.” The other claims “Washington is out of control. “Yet the president has the same tired answer for every problem – to spend more of your money,” the spot begins. Crist’s approach to Obama and federal spending is a departure from just months ago. Shortly after joining Obama in Fort...