Brown-Waite endorses Rubio in Senate race

The Hill ^ | 9-17-09 | Reid Wilson

[Darren McCarty]

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 addition to the two Florida House members, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) well-respected figures in social-conservative circles have backed his bid.

Rubio was featured on the cover of the National Review, the prominent conservative weekly, and bloggers from across the country have weighed in on his behalf against Crist. In Florida, Rubio has won all eight of the straw polls held so far, an indication that the most active, hardcore members of the party are unsatisfied with Crist.

Though the straw polls mean little in terms of electoral power, they draw headlines that the Crist campaign does not want to see. Another straw poll is scheduled for Thursday night in Hernando County, which falls within the borders of Brown-Waite's district.

[Darren McCarty]

Interesting development here. Up here, there was a recent announcement that Charlie Crist is going to be speaking at the Mackinac Republican Conference here in Michigan (so is Romney, Eric Cantor, and Tim Pawlenty). Why would a Florida senate candidate be speaking here? Is it because he wants to be President? I'd love to see Rubio stop that train before it gets started.

I'll be skipping the Crist event.

[Rodebrecht]

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) well-respected figures in social-conservative circles have backed his bid.

Funny how those two balance each other out.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Jeb Bush & Mike Huckabee are backing Rubio now.
This is a clear indication that the writing is on the wall for the Rockefellers. Crist will NEVER get the support of the grassroots and moderate/liberal voters will just pick the Dem. I will go out on a limb here and say that Crist will lose the primary handily.

[kara37]

I hope your right. I know I will be happy to vote against him!

[M Kehoe]

Cool.

5.56mm

[Cicero]

I hope you’re right, too.

Crist is a real loser. He was as much responsible as anyone for giving us McCain in the last election.

[pissant]

BUMP. Crist needs to crawl back under his RINO rock

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Why would a Florida senate candidate be speaking here

Same reason as Pawlenty: GOP governor talked about as a Presidential candidate (God forbid!)

[yongin]

While Tim Pawlenty, Sonny Purdue, and Bobby Jindal intend on cutting off state funding for ACORN, Crist is actually defending ACORN. Crist needs to go!

[MSF BU]

I wonder what would happen if Palin flew down to help out Rubio?

[jrcats]

Ginny Brown-Waite is my rep. in Congress & I’m really happy that she is backing Marco Rubio. Suntan Charlie is nothing but a Rino & pal of Obama. We had enough with Mel that I believe the people of Florida will not vote for another Rino such as Crist.

[Maelstorm]

ping Good news for Rubio.