A few months ago, this possibility seemed shocking, and nothing if not remote. But now it’s happened:
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced Tuesday morning he will run for U.S. Senate.
On his Twitter page, Crist wrote, “After thoughtful consideration with my wife Carole, I have decided to run for the U.S. Senate.”
Twitter – how cute. Quite unusually (but you can understand the motivation), John Cornyn and the NRSC instantly endorsed Crist. Conservative belle du jour Marco Rubio fired right back (also on Twitter! how savvy): “Disappointed GOP senate comm endorses Crist on day 1. Remember that reform must always come from the outside. Status quo won’t change itself.”
Rubio also released a new attack ad (not sure if it’s airing on TV, or if it’s just web fodder) linking Obama and Crist, with a photo showing them embracing. If Crist survives the primary, this tactic might wind up doing him a favor, assuming Obama is still popular in eighteen months from now. But the Republican contest ought to be a lot of fun no matter what.
In any event, with polling showing Crist far ahead in the GOP primary, the Swing State Project is changing its rating on FL-Sen from Tossup to Likely R – for now. It’s still early. We also anticipate changing our rating on the FL-Gov race soon, too.
It’s not TV length, and it’s cheapo.
One thing I can say for sure is that if Crist wins the primary after sustaining frequent attacks that he’s too close to Obama, he’s a lock for the general.
This abandonment of a Cuban-American candidate in Rubio in favor of Crist will no doubt result in some backlash among the ever shrinking Florida Republican Hispanic community. Especially if the primary gets ugly.
their very upset by it, but its an interesting look on the conservative perspective on this.
Crist’s smartest move might be to switch parties now, proclaim himself pro-choice, and waltz into the seat.
I keep hearing all this about Crist and McCollum hating each other and since it’s a closed primary, could the wingnuts come out in droves for both races, galvanized by McCollum for governor?
pro-choice or pro-life?
Seems the most obvious reason for the switch.
Will Rubio do anything with the gay line of attack against Crist, or not? It seems unlikely to be a good strategy to do anything too direct. But maybe Rubio will attack Crist for being a moderate on some gay-rights related issue, or something of that kind, as a way of backhandedly suggesting that Crist is too gay “friendly.” (How is Crist on gay issues, anyway?) Hard to predict.
in the primary.
Will he stay out of it on the sidelines?
Or will he jump in guns blazing for Rubio against Crist?
This will be interesting.
Probably time to update the gubernatorial ratings as well, since that’s now an open seat. Sink verus McCollum would definitely be a toss-up at this point.