Posted on 05/12/2009 11:55:31 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
The expected announcement Tuesday by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist that hes 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 Crists 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 Obamas stimulus and his handling of the states budget woes.
And he will be facing a vigorous fight from former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a young, outspoken Hispanic conservative who is capturing the attention of activists in Florida and across the country.
. . . . .
If were offering the same thing as the Democrats, but with different packaging, whats the point in having a Republican Party? Rubio said.Im going to offer Floridians a clear, consistent, authentic small-government choice in the primary.
Indeed, Rubio expects the primary to receive national attention as a referendum between the partys moderate and conservative wings. He just received a glowing profile in the Weekly Standard, which called him the perfect recruit for statewide office.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
YOU NEVER VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT!!!
Just say no to teabaggin’ RINOs like Crist.
Tell that to the morons that voted for Obama over McCain, because I got a serious feeling it was those same ones that put McCain on the national ticket when they voted for him in the Florida primary.
Yeah, Matinez in the primary was a mistake and you were given poor advice. While I think it would be great to have a truly conservative Latino to run in Florida, for all the obvious reasons, I wouldn't pick a Hispanic over a conservative in the primary just to satisfy some kind of identity politics.
Having said that, I don't live in FL, but have a lot of family that does and they tell me Rubio seems like a great candidate for conservatives. He's a good looking, younger guy - which certainly is good if people are looking for "change"- and he's a Spanish-speaking Latino which should be appealing to a big FL demographic.
But, I'm getting all my information second-hand, so maybe he's not as conservative as I think - FWIW.
There is a book called "American Progressivism" on Amazon which describes the deception -- Why you never hear any one say they are a progressive, except Hillary by oops in the last election. The other book Beck is pushing for educational reading "The 5000 Year Leap".
More here...
Groan.
Tanning Bed (I had to take the Florida Bar exam three times to pass) Charlie hasn’t been able to solve the property tax, or property insurance issues, and was pretty much AWOL during the latest budget contretemps. So he needs to get the hell out of Tallahassee while the getting is good. His new wife apparently is a bright lights type, so she’d probably fancy being holed up in DC as opposed to Tallahassee, which is hardly the first choice of a cafe society wannabe.
Rubio is a virtual unknown outside of S. Florida and Tallahassee. And he is young. In a state where youth isn’t necessarily a virtue when running in a statewide race.
McCollum, who has had problems prevailing in state-wide races, will probably run too.
The Dems will probably settle on Ms Sink, a retired Bank of America high-roller, and who thus who claim that she has done something in life besides being a career politician. By most accounts a reasonably competent person, she holds some extremely liberal views. She’s married to some other pol whose name eludes me at the moment; suffice it to say it isn’t Sink.
If the GOP ends up going with any of these three, the Dems could well take the seat. Hopefully some electable conservative will emerge who changes the dynamic.
Thanks for the links, and good for you for blogging on it.
Being from the liberal Northeast, I’m used to the smuggest of the liberals proudly cloaking themselves in the ‘progressive’ term, sometimes in an amusing attempt to distance themselves from what they fear is a discredited liberal label. To them, progressive is a more modern, forward-looking, hipper version of liberal that simultaneously is somehow supposed to be less threatening-sounding to moderates, but to real lefties is insider code for something more like Marxist-liberal.
Progressives is just another word for Marxist. They use it because they think people don’t know what it means. The left is always changing the language to deceive people.
The truth is what works.
That’s true. They use it they way I use ‘classical liberal’ for myself!
Oh, but for me ‘classical liberal’ is the truth.
Yep, but then it got possessed and we did nothing.
I’m a recent addition to the East FL Coast. Where can I sign up to help Rubio without having to go through the RNC?
Run Rubio Run. I know he’s running, just had to say it.
Crist thinks he’s God’s gift to the GOP, and has some people eating out of his feminine hand. Rubio is the only one to stop him now, and a Conservative against a RINO in Florida, the conservative has a very good chance to win.
Here’s how Rubio can get a flying lead and keep on gliding to touchdown-——stand by Cheney on waterboarding. The public agrees with Cheney on this, but I don’t know anyone else in the GOP or the Bush administration standing fully with him. Rubio can lead the way, and others will quickly follow.
“Rubio is a virtual unknown outside of S. Florida and Tallahassee. And he is young. In a state where youth isnt necessarily a virtue when running in a statewide race.”
RUBIO IS THE MOST ELECTABLE. he will keep the conservative base, will get latino inroads and will be a good candidate for 2010 rebound.
The liberals want Crist to get nominated. They must know something. Crist will be Foley’d 10 tens prior to the election.
I see a couple of inside the beltway GOP good ole boys, McConnell and Cornyn, are already on the Crist bandwagon. My disgust with the Washington GOP establishment continues to increase.
Now THIS sounds like an interesting matchup with a true conservative vs a squishy Specter wannabe... Remember when GWBush flew to Florida to actually campaign for Crist when he was running for governor and he didn’t want to be seen with Bush and flew to the southern end of the state rather than meet with him.... I think Crist would be a voting disaster in the senate JMHO since I have no say in the election and no vote in the matter, just my take on it... this could be a good primary race in Florida.
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