Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio continues to lengthen his lead over Governor Charlie Crist in the contest for Florida’s Republican Senate nomination.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Republican Primary voters finds Rubio leading Crist by 18 points, 54% to 36%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent are undecided.
Those figures reflect a five point increase in support for Rubio compared to a month ago. Support for Crist has changed little over the past month.
In December, the two GOP hopefuls were tied at 43% apiece. The new findings mark Rubio’s best showing to date and Crist’s worst. The good news for Crist is that Florida Republicans don’t pick their nominee until an August 24 primary.
Crist, an early favorite in the race, was the choice of the party establishment but angered conservatives when he was one of the few Republicans to embrace President Obama’s $787-billion economic stimulus plan. Rubio, initially a long-shot contender, was quickly embraced by the so-called Tea Party movement, and Crist’s support has been falling ever since. He was at 53% in August but fell to 49% in October. Since then, a number of prominent national conservatives have endorsed Rubio’s candidacy.
In the state’s general election content, both Rubio and Crist have large leads over likely Democratic nominee, Congressman Kendrick Meek. Rasmussen Reports will release new numbers on the overall Senate race tomorrow.
Rubio now carries male GOP voters by a two-to-one margin but break even with Crist among women. The governor also breaks even among moderate Republicans, but conservatives in the party favor his challenger now by more than 40 points.
It’s telling that Florida Republican Primary voters are now evenly divided over Crist’s performance as governor. Forty-eight percent (48%) approve of the job he is doing, down eight points from January, but 49% don’t approve. Those numbers included eight percent (8%) who strongly approve of how Crist is governing and 20% who strongly disapprove. Keep in mind that those figures are among Primary Voters in the Governor’s own political party.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of likely primary voters have a favorable view of Crist. This marks an eight-point drop from the previous survey. Sixteen percent (16%) now view him very favorably. Forty-four percent (44%) of Republican voters in the state now have an unfavorable view of the incumbent GOP governor, including 14% whose view is very unfavorable. Only two percent (2%) have no opinion of him.
By comparison, favorables for Rubio total 67% percent, including 34% who have a very favorable opinion of the Cuban-American politician. Only 15% view him unfavorably, including four percent (4%) with a very unfavorable opinion. But 18% still don’t know enough about him to have an opinion one way or the other.
Both men are vying to be the Republican nominee in this year’s race to fill the seat originally vacated by retiring GOP Senator Mel Martinez. Last August, Crist as governor named his chief of staff, George LeMiuex, to serve the remainder of Martinez’s term, but LeMieux is not running for a full term.
Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio has now jumped to a 12-point lead over Governor Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Primary race for the U.S. Senate.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Rubio leading Crist 49% to 37%. Three percent (3%) prefer another candidate, and 11% are undecided.
The new numbers mark a stunning turnaround. Crist was the strong favorite when he first announced for the Senate seat, and Rubio was viewed as a long-shot challenger.
Crist’s fortunes appear to be tied in part to national unhappiness over President Obama and his policies. Many conservatives began rebelling against Crist when he became one of the few Republican governors to embrace Obama’s $787-billion economic stimulus plan last year. The national Republican party establishment endorsed Crist early on, but a number of prominent national party conservatives have since announced their support for Rubio. Nationally, the GOP’s Florida Senate race is being watched as a test of the new “Tea Party” mood among many conservative and traditionally Republican voters.
In Florida’s Senate general election contest, Crist and Rubio both hold a double-digit lead over their likely Democratic opponent, Congressman Kendrick Meek, in the latest Rasmussen Reports polling of likely voters in the state.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of GOP Primary voters have a favorable view of Crist while 37% regard the governor unfavorably. Those figures include 19% with a very favorable opinion and 11% who have a very unfavorable view of him.
Rubio is viewed favorably by 67% of primary voters and unfavorably by only14%. These numbers include 35% with a very favorable opinion of the Cuban-American candidate versus four percent (4%) with a very unfavorable view.
Perhaps more telling for Crist is that just 56% of Republican Primary voters approve of the job he is now doing as governor. Forty-three percent (43%) disapprove of his job performance.
Both men are vying to be the Republican nominee in next year’s race to fill the seat vacated by retiring GOP Senator Mel Martinez. In August, Crist as governor named his chief of staff, George LeMiuex, to serve the remainder of Martinez’s term, but LeMieux is not running for a full term next year. Florida’s Republican Primary is scheduled for August 24.
Democratic Senate incumbents who currently trail their challengers include Harry Reid in Nevada, Michael Bennet in Colorado, Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas and Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. Barbara Boxer from California, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin find themselves in more competitive races than usual.
§ January 27th, 2010§ Filed under Election NewsComments Off
Pompano Beach FL - Grab your friends, family and everyone you know to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) for Edward Lynch this week. On Monday January 25th early voting began for the special election of Florida’s 19th Congressional District primary. Polling locations opened in Broward and Palm Beach counties. In Broward County there are only two locations open to vote, while in Palm Beach every precinct location within the 19th District will be open.
Broward County Early Voting Locations:
North Regional Library/Broward College
1100 Coconut Creek Boulevard
Coconut Creek, FL 33066-1647
Northwest Regional Library
3151 University Drive
Coral Springs, FL 33065-6134\
“This election is so important, it brings us one step closer to taking back the 19th district seat and giving the people back their voice in Washington DC. Their is no other candidate more qualified to do that than Ed Lynch. He has fought for the people and I know he will continue fighting to do what is right for everyone in his district and the country.” said Daniel P Diaz, Florida Project Director of the Republican Majority Campaign PAC.
The favorite candidate on the Republican side is none other then Edward Lynch. Edward is an entrepreneur, lifelong fiscal conservative, business owner and caring humanitarian. By his own admission, Edward is just a “regular guy” and never considered the option of running for Congress. It was not until he witnessed first hand, the waste of taxpayer money, the corruption, the poor treatment of our veterans and the issues of our citizens never truly being addressed by our government officials, that he decided that it was time for a change and he was going to get involved to make those changes. His boundless energy, his passion, and his common sense approach to solving problems are the qualities that will serve him well as our next Congressman, and he will help to restore that which made America into the most prosperous and free country on the face of the earth.
The Republican Majority Campaign PAC (RMCPAC) has fully endorsed Edward Lynch. The RMCPAC is a multi-candidate PAC that is dedicated to restoring the Republican majority in Congress in 2010 by advancing a Platform of lower taxes, individual liberties, strong national defense, and support for the free enterprise system. During the 2008 election cycle, RMCPAC raised over $4,000,000 and spent nearly 90% of the funds raised in support of Republican candidates and in independent expenditure campaigns.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist is trailing Marco Rubio (left) in the race for the state’s Republican Senate nomination for the first time, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
Crist trails Rubio 47 percent to 44 percent in the survey. The three-point deficit is within the poll’s margin of error.
Three months ago, Crist, who had been expected to cruise to the nomination, led Rubio by 15 points. In August, Crist led Rubio by 29 points.
But Florida Republicans have become disenchanted with Crist, who is seen as moderate for his support of President Obama’s stimulus package, among other issues. They have rallied instead to Rubio, a darling of the Tea Party movement and photogenic fiscal conservative who has benefitted from a surge in populist anger against the president and his fellow Democrats, as well as incumbents more widely.
In a general election matchup, Rubio bests likely Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek 44 percent to 35 percent. Crist fares slightly better, beating Meek 48 percent to 36 percent.
(AP Photo/Phil Coale)
Florida’s GOP primary is closed, which means only registered Republicans can vote. That hurts Crist (left), who has alienated some members of the state’s Republican base as Rubio has campaigned for their support.
“Who would have thunk it?,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a release. “A former state lawmaker virtually unknown outside of his South Florida home whose challenge to an exceedingly popular sitting governor for a U.S. Senate nomination had many insiders scratching their heads. He enters the race 31 points behind and seven months later sneaks into the lead.”
Crist’s struggles with Republicans haven’t come simply from his decision to back the stimulus, a choice he may have come to regret. As the Miami Herald notes, his jobs program hasn’t spurred hiring, he raised taxes in 2009, and his biggest contributor was accused in a Ponzi scheme. It’s been a tough year for a governor who had often been mentioned as the future of the Republican Party.
Mr. Obama’s approval rating in Florida, meanwhile, has slipped to 45 percent in the poll, while his disapproval rating is 49 percent. When Crist and the president appeared together in support of the stimulus last February, Mr. Obama’s approval rating was 64 percent and his disapproval rating 23 percent.
§ January 21st, 2010§ Filed under Election NewsComments Off
Another Jeb Bush son fundraiser for Marco Rubio
George P. Bush, son of Jeb and a good early bet to be the next Bush president within the next 50 years, announced today that he’s holding a fundraiser tonight for Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate in his race against Gov. Charlie Crist. Bush’s brother, Jeb Jr., already endorsed Rubio and is co-hosting tonight’s fundraiser in Coral Gables.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush has yet to say whom he’ll endorse in the Republican race.
Said George P. Bush in a written statement: “I’ve known Marco Rubio for years and saw what he could do during the six years he spent working alongside my father promoting ideas and reform-based conservatism. He is a rock-solid conservative and the leader Floridians deserve in the U.S. Senate to advocate for limited government and greater personal freedoms. Marco’s deeply rooted principles and can-do spirit will make him a powerful voice on behalf of those who want to hold Washington accountable for its excesses while offering bold solutions to our nation’s challenges.”
§ January 21st, 2010§ Filed under Election NewsComments Off
Scott Brown's victory once seemed as improbable as Marco Rubio posing a serious challenge to Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate hopes.
Massachusetts Senate election shines spotlight on Rubio
By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune
As pundits nationwide debate the meaning of Tuesday’s startling Massachusetts Senate election, the spotlight is shining brighter on Marco Rubio than almost any other political candidate.
“Political analysts have a tendency to hyperbole when they talk about election results â but in my 36 years of teaching, this may be the most significant election I’ve seen,” retired University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson said Wednesday.
“Pigs have flown, and hell has frozen over,” he said of Republican Scott Brown’s win for the seat long held by Ted Kennedy in the bluest of blue states.
Republicans exulted that the win may enable them to halt health care reform and a tax on banks to repay the bank bailout.
Rubio was only one of many candidates who claimed to find a good omen for himself in the news.
Crist also claimed encouragement, as did other Republicans, some of them also running against each other.
Campaigning in Tampa Wednesday, Rubio said Brown’s win shows that Republicans don’t need to compromise with Democrats, as he charges Crist, is too willing to do.
“The Obama agenda is being rejected, and those who supported it are going to have to justify that” â meaning Crist, who “supported the cornerstone of that agenda,” the economic stimulus package, Rubio said.
“If the Obama agenda is not safe in Massachusetts, it’s certainly not safe in the Republican primary in Florida,” said Rubio, a former state House Speaker.
But the Massachusetts results once again drew the attention of conservatives nationwide to Rubio, including a columnist for the National Review who said Crist should consider dropping out.
Crist came to the opposite conclusion.
Brown, Crist said, “called it the people’s seat — I’m striving to be the people’s governor, work hard for them every day. ⦠That’s what we’ve done as governor and as a candidate for U.S. Senate.”
He told Capitol News Service that Brown “talked about exactly the kind of things that we’re doing here in Florida.”
Even Kendrick Meek, a Democrat and likely general election opponent of Crist or Rubio, laid claim to being a beneficiary of Brown’s win, his campaign said.
“Brown was the non-incumbent, non-traditional candidate, and that’s exactly what Kendrick is,” said Meek strategist Ana Cruz of Tampa. “There’s an anti-incumbent, ‘kick-the-rascals-out’ sentiment.”
She also noted that Brown’s Democratic opponent, Martha Coakley, faced a tough primary â like Crist and Rubio â while Meek “has solidified as the Democratic candidate early in the race.”
The Florida Senate candidates weren’t the only ones claiming validation from Brown’s win.
State Sen. Paula Dockery, running a dark-horse, populist campaign in the Republican primary for governor, said she’s encouraged because, “a few weeks ago, no one had even heard of Scott Brown or given him the slightest chance of winning.
“It is a win for people fed up with a government that just won’t listen to the people,” and “an inspiration to candidates across the nation who are not considered shoo-ins or frontrunners,” she said.
Meanwhile, the GOP frontrunner for governor, Attorney General Bill McCollum, said the Massachusetts results are “a clear indication that in these uncertain times â marked by soaring unemployment and growing deficits â voters will not settle for smoke and mirrors and attempts to duck challenging issues.”
McCollum has accused his likely Democratic opponent, Alex Sink, of ducking issues.
Paulson agreed that Rubio is the beneficiary of the Massachusetts outcome.
“It’s another piece of bad news for Charlie Crist,” said Paulson, a Republican and a Crist backer. “This was not only anti-Democratic message, but anti-incumbent message as well.”
In the Crist-Rubio race, he said, “Rubio’s the outsider, the change element.”
But Paulson said Republicans shouldn’t get too happy with the result.
“To some extent, incumbent Republicans are just as much in jeopardy as incumbent Democrats,” he said. “There’s a huge anti-incumbent mood out there.”
§ November 26th, 2009§ Filed under Election NewsComments Off
by Michael C. Bender | November 5th, 2009
Here’s the latest video from the Republican Majority Campaign of Florida, a 527 political action committee whose parent group raised more than $4 million during 2008 (most of which was spent campaigning for GOP presidential nominee John McCain). You might also remember the group from a fund-raising e-mail they sent earlier this year warning that Congress wanted to give President Obama “total control of the Internet.”
The web video focuses on the Gov. Charlie Crist’s support of the federal stimulus package, the central theme of former House Speaker Marco Rubio’s campaign against Crist in the state’s U.S. Senate Republican primary.
Crist, meanwhile, is attempting to add some nuance to his feelings about the stimulus package. He told CNN last night that he didn’t endorse the proposal and that he “didn’t even have a vote on the darned thing.” Here’s a fact-check of sorts from the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, click here to listen to Crist explain to reporters this morning his seemingly evolving position on the subject.
Coral Springs, Florida – U.S. Senate candidate Bob Smith’s endorsement record was questioned last night at the DC Works for US meeting held at Wings Plus in Coral Springs. Two representatives from the Republican Majority Campaign Political Action Committee(RMCPAC) asked Sen. Smith about his Kerry endorsement during the 2004 Presidential Election. On camera, Smith responds to the activists by admitting to the endorsement of John Kerry over President Bush “because he [Bush] pulled the plug on me and embarrassed me”.
The RMCPAC’s, Florida Project Director Daniel Diaz states: “Bob Smith’s campaign slogan thus far has been ‘principals above politics’ yet when the question about his endorsement came to light, Smith’s response was politics above principals. His response was juvenile and I ask all Floridian’s, ‘Is this who we want to represent the State of Florida?’”
The edited video of the encounter can be viewed on youtube.com. The man behind the camera, Patrick Castronovo has this to say in reference to the endorsement. “The actions that were taken by Senator Bob Smith to endorse liberal John Kerry over President George W. Bush were not only selfish but dangerous. We can’t afford to elect people in Washington that act like children, especially when our children and nation are at stake”.
For more information on the RMCPAC please visit them online at http://www.rmcpacfl.com and to view the video that was taken of Smith please use the following link:
Published: Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 10:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 10:26 p.m.
NEWBERRY — Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham was the keynote speaker Thursday at the Alachua County Republican Party’s annual fundraiser, but Florida’s U.S. Senate race was the main event.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and his opponent in the Republican Senate primary, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, both spoke at the 7th Annual Ronald Reagan Black Tie and Blue Jeans BBQ. The event, held at Canterbury Equestrian Showplace, typically serves up plenty of red meat for the party faithful.
The high-profile Senate race provided an extra helping this year. Rubio gave the event’s invocation, but first made comments along his campaign theme of being the race’s true conservative.
“It’s very simple: We already have a Democratic Party in America,” he said. “We do not need two Democratic parties in America.”
Crist gave a speech running through a long list of positions to prove his conservative bona fides, from support of gun rights to tax cuts. But he received a less enthusiastic greeting than Rubio from the grassroots activists in attendance, even getting a small smattering of boos.
In comments to reporters before the event, Crist said party members should put aside differences. He invoked Reagan’s old saying that a “person that agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend.”
“I think the message is we need to be unified,” he said.
Ingraham, for her part, said the time was right for the party to fight for its beliefs. She criticized Democrats for “budget-busting” proposals such as health care reform and the climate-change plan.
“What we are seeing now is a full-frontal assault on you,” she said.
Washington has become addicted to “boondoggles and bailouts,” she said. Democrats didn’t like people in the audience, she said, for lifestyle choices such as driving big cars, being too fat or living in suburbia.
“You have all become very inconvenient to those who seek to remake America and I’m here to tell you tonight let’s continue to be inconvenient,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Ingraham was among thousands gathered on Capitol Hill to protest Democratic health care proposals. She mocked U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for saying she didn’t see the crowds.
“Apparently there was a meeting she had to preside over with the manufacturer of Botox cosmetics,” Ingraham said.
The event appeared more crowded and energized than last year, when it was held less than a month before Barack Obama took the White House. This time around, Republicans said they were mobilized by a growing concern over the direction of the country and energized by Tuesday’s gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia.
“You can feel it everywhere you go,” said Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala. “When Republicans gather, there’s a sense of urgency.”
Attendees dismissed the idea that the battle between Crist and Rubio would divide the party. State Sen. Steve Oelrich, a Cross Creek Republican and Rubio supporter, said it was healthy to have a contested primary.
“Politics is a competitive sport,” he said.
Fully embracing that idea, Rubio attacked Crist for positions such as his support of the stimulus in comments to reporters before the event. He continued along the same lines in his speech.
“We know that government spending does not stimulate our economy, especially money that is borrowed and printed,” he said.
Crist questioned what Rubio would have done about the stimulus if he had been governor.
“Wouldn’t he have taken it to help the people of Florida?” he said. “Every Republican governor in America did … It saved 20,000 teachers their jobs.”
Former House speaker Marco Rubio is the only major Republican challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate seat.
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 organization has held such a vote. Large, urban counties should be Crist’s strong points.
But Crist will face similar votes soon in other big counties, including Broward and his home county of Pinellas.
Crist had a particular problem in Palm Beach County. In July, he appointed a Democrat, Priscilla Taylor, to fill a vacancy on the board of county commissioners. Local Republicans were angry even though Taylor, who is black, replaced another black Democrat representing the largely black district. Palm Beach county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein attributed the vote in part to that appointment.
But Republicans are debating whether such votes reflect only the opinions of the more conservative, activist base of the party—the members of local GOP organizations—or of mainstream Republicans.
Palm Beach party Vice Chairman Beth Kigel, who is also chairman of Crist’s campaign in the county, said the vote doesn’t represent the view of mainstream GOP voters there.
“We believe Gov. Crist resonates with the mainstream voters in Palm Beach County,” she said. “There over more than 240,000 of them, and their voice will be heard” on primary election day in 2010.
Kigel noted that Crist won the county by 2-1 in his 2006 primary for governor, even though most of the party structure backed his opponent, Tom Gallagher.
In the Palm Beach County vote, Bob Smith, who’s also filed as a Senate candidate, got 11 votes and Marion Thorpe got 4.
Posted: Monday, October 05, 2009 1:40 PM by Chuck Todd
From NBC’s Chuck Todd
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 he has contributed a $1000 to Rubio’s campaign, the donation will be made public when Rubio files his next FEC report (due Oct. 15).
This comes on the heels of Jeb Bush’s public signal that he plans to stay neutral in the Crist-Rubio primary; Many believe this is Jeb’s way of quietly telling influential Florida Republicans that he’d prefer Rubio but doesn’t want to alienate Crist since he’s still the heavy favorite in the primary. For Rubio, he needs to show some viability and that begins with his next fundraising report. But the most important fundraising report might actually be by the end of the year when you’ll truly be able to see how Rubio’s been able to use the Jeb neutrality (support?) to his advantage. Remember, Jeb is to Florida Republicans what Reagan is to the party nationally, he’s held in THAT high of regard.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported a Rove donation to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Texas gubernatorial campaign. Rove has not given Hutchison any money. It was simply an incorrect fact that should not have been included.
Conservative columnist George Will thinks that conservative Republican former state House Speaker Marco Rubio will pull off an upset and defeat Charlie Crist in the 2010 GOP Senate primary:
In January 2011, one Floridian will leave for the U.S. Senate. He is unlikely to be a former governor at odds with his party’s nominating electorate, or the probable Democratic nominee, Kendrick Meek, a hyper-liberal congressman. Rubio intends to prove that “in the most important swing state, you can run successfully as a principled conservative.” He probably will.
If the straw polls taken around the state by Republican County Committees are any indication, Rubio will indeed defeat Crist. In fact, since my last round-up of FL-GOP straw polls, which included the following rundown:
Pasco County: Rubio wins, 73-9 Lee County: Rubio wins, “7-to-1 margin” [60-9] Highlands County: Rubio wins, 75-1 Bay County: Rubio wins, 23-2 Volusia County: GOP Committee censures Crist Palm Beach County: GOP Committee almost censures Crist as motion fails on a 65-65 tie, still a stinging rebuke Broward County: GOP Committee attempts a straw poll, blocked only by Crist acolyte eager to avoid embarrassment for Crist
we can add Florida’s Hernando County GOP Committee to the list. Fernando County is a “poor (median income- $32,572), very white rural area north of Tampa” whose County GOP just backed Rubio in a straw poll over Crist by a vote of 46-0. Yup, 46-0. To that, we can also add:
Marion County: Rubio 40, Crist 8 Gilchrist County: Rubio 11, Crist 1 GOP Women’s Club of Duval Federated: Rubio 65, Crist 4 Northwest Orange GOP Women Federated: Rubio 49, Crist 3 Jefferson County GOP: Rubio 30, Crist 6 Florida Federation of College Republicans: Rubio 19, Crist 6
If you add up the eleven straw polls conducted, the total is Rubio 491, Crist 49. In other words, among recorded Republican activists in Florida, Rubio is crushing Crist by just over a 10-to-1 margin. But Crist has the support of the Republican “establishment.” To which Rubio says:
“If you are unhappy with the Republican establishment, then let’s get a new establishment.”
Rubio may be well on his way to accomplishing just that in the FL-GOP.
Former House speaker Marco Rubio, left, is the only major Republican challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate seat.
Straw polls show GOP base not with Crist
By WILLIAM MARCH
wmarch@tampatrib.com
If the Republican U.S. Senate primary were up to people such as Andy Tuck, Gov. Charlie Crist might be in trouble.
Tuck is party chairman in rural, conservative Highlands County. In July, his party executive committee held a straw vote between Crist and his primary opponent, Marco Rubio.
Rubio won 75-1.
“I’m not saying (Crist) won’t win the primary, but it won’t be the cakewalk a lot of people say,” Tuck said. “He is not the conservative Republican he needs to be to win this race.”
Across Florida, mainly in conservative, rural areas but also some urban areas where Crist is stronger, Republican Party activists are voicing similar feelings.
Rubio has won party executive committee straw polls in seven counties, including Hernando County on Thursday night, plus a handful of Republican clubs.
State and national conservative activists and bloggers are voicing dissatisfaction with Crist for issues from backing President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan to picking Democrats for appointments.
Are these just noisy activists who don’t represent the broad mass of Republican voters?
Or could the governor face a significant challenge from within his own party as he seeks to move into the Senate?
In polls and fundraising, he is miles ahead of Rubio. A state Republican Party poll last week gave Crist a 67 percent job approval among Republican voters, party officials said.
Party activists – the kind voting for Rubio in the straw polls – “are a different group of people, more ideologically oriented, and they don’t always reflect the mainstream of the party,” said Darryl Paulson, a retired University of South Florida political scientist and a Republican who studies party history.
Nevertheless, Paulson noted, Crist has endured a string of bad news recently, culminating last week with the Hernando vote, a Rubio endorsement by U.S. Rep. Ginnie Brown-Waite of Brooksville, and attacks on Crist for past association with the controversial community organizing group ACORN.
“I’d be getting a little nervous if I was Charlie Crist,” said Paulson, who backed Crist in 2006 in his primary against Tom Gallagher.
Crist, Paulson said, “is extraordinarily popular, but not with the base of his party – with independents and moderate Republicans and Democrats. They either don’t vote in the primary or can’t.”
Potential bad news
Crist could see more bad news.
•Pinellas County Republicans will hold a straw poll, likely in December. Coming in Crist’s home county, it will have huge symbolic significance.
•In Volusia County, the party executive committee voted last month to censure Crist for choosing Democrats for appointive offices and also for supporting the president’s stimulus program.
•A censure move in Palm Beach County failed in a tie; party leaders staved it off by promising a straw vote in October.
•In Broward County, party leaders held off a straw vote by promising personal appearances by Crist and Rubio.
Broward Chairman Chip Lamarca said he thinks Crist would win a straw vote in his county, but Palm Beach Chairman Sid Dinerstein expects Rubio to win his easily.
Besides Hernando, Rubio has won straw polls in Bay, Jefferson, Gilchrist, Highlands, Lee and Pasco counties. The Hernando vote was 46-0.
Pasco’s 73-9 vote in June was a painful reversal – next door to Crist’s home county, it and Broward broke party rules to endorse Crist in his 2006 primary for governor against Gallagher. Party organizations normally stay neutral in primaries.
The organizations holding these votes are county Republican executive committees, made up of representatives from each precinct.
The largest, such as Hillsborough’s, may have 400 or more members who swear party loyalty oaths, attend monthly meetings and volunteer.
Importance downplayed
State Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey, a Crist backer, downplayed their importance to Crist.
“I haven’t been to a Republican executive committee meeting in years, and many other elected Republicans in Pasco haven’t either,” he said. “The silent majority doesn’t go to party meetings or read blogs.”
State Party Chairman Jim Greer, a Crist ally, said regardless of the straw votes, polls such as last week’s consistently show Crist with strong support among likely GOP voters.
Asked to explain conservative dissatisfaction with Crist, he said, “There is a segment of the party that believes that there should be no flexibility whatsoever in their governing principles and that have very little taste for any bipartisanship.”
Paulson and GOP insiders noted that Crist has never depended heavily on the party structure.
Nonetheless, the governor has been moving right to counter the bad news.
He canceled his plans for a summit on climate change and dropped his opposition to Gulf oil drilling.
Greer, who is closely associated with Crist, has engaged in strident rhetoric attacking Obama on health insurance reform and other issues.
Rubio disagrees about the importance of the party activists.
“These are highly involved Republicans, who are definitely voting and will influence others on how to vote,” he said. “They will definitely work on campaigns.
“At a minimum, it shows that among those Republicans highly informed and highly active, we have significant support,” he said.
In a low-turnout election such as next year’s non-presidential year primary, Rubio said, those conservatives will matter.
His calculation: About a quarter of Florida’s 4 million Republicans will go to the polls on primary day, so 600,000 votes could win the Senate nomination.
“No one in the world can convince me that there aren’t 600,000 or 700,000 conservative Republicans in Florida,” he recently said in a speech in Hillsborough County. “No one in the world can convince me it costs $15 million to reach them.”
Marco Rubio needs 600,000 Republican voters, and he thinks he can find a lot of them at the tea-party tax protests and raucous town-hall meetings on national health care.
For an under-funded underdog, running for the U.S. Senate against a popular governor with a track record of three easy statewide wins, Rubio’s task is daunting. But experienced political observers see his challenge to Gov. Charlie Crist as the most serious fight either party has had in 40 years — since Gov. Claude Kirk was forced into a runoff and ultimately defeated in 1970.
“I’m running to do something, not to be something,” Rubio told about 100 members of Capital Conservatives, a non-partisan Tallahassee group. “There are easier things for me to run for — there are easier things to do in life than run against the sitting governor of your state and your own party.”
The party wasted no time anointing Crist as its best chance of keeping retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s seat in the red column. Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, whom Crist put in that job, immediately endorsed him, and the Republican National Senate Campaign Committee followed suit minutes after Crist formally announced his candidacy in May.
But Rubio, who announced his candidacy on YouTube and boasts relatively second-tier endorsements like those of South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and the son of ex-Gov. Jeb Bush, has travelled the state constantly to meet with grassroots conservatives who are frankly unhappy with Crist’s embrace of President Obama’s fiscal stimulus package and appointment of his former top aide, George LeMieux, to fill Martinez’s seat.
“My campaign strategy is not very complicated. There are 4 million Republicans, about 25-28 percent will vote, so that means if I can find 600,000 people to vote for me in the Republican primary, I’ll be the nominee,” Rubio explained. “That’s the goal — identify and turn out 600,000 voters in the primary.”
‘More of a race’
Modern political history bears him out. Martinez won an eight-candidate primary with 522,000 votes in 2004, but that was a presidential year with higher turnout. And the last man to top 600,000 in an off-year GOP primary was Charlie Crist, in 2006.
But Rubio said Florida’s political winds have shifted in the Obama era.
“This has been a real shock but a great awakening,” he said. “People say, ‘You’re not going to win with just tea-party people and town-hall people, there’s not enough of them.’ I think they’re wrong.”
He scored lopsided victories in straw polls by GOP committees in Pasco, Lee, Highlands, Bay and Duval Counties. The Volusia County Republican committee voted to censure Crist Aug. 3 while a censure vote in Palm Beach County failed in a 65-65 vote — as committee member Steven Ledewitz called Crist “Arlen Specter with a suntan.”
But Crist has some numbers on his side that count more. He raised $4.3 million in less than two months after announcing and polls have consistently shown him trouncing Rubio, who raised only $340,000.
Brad Coker, state director of the Mason Dixon Poll, said that may be a factor of name identification. Among voters who recognized both men’s names, the GOP vote was a virtual tie in Coker’s latest poll.
“In state after state, we’ve seen that the sort of genial candidate with cross-party appeal can raise a lot of money but then get beaten by the more conservative candidate in a Republican primary,” said Coker. “I think Crist is joined at the hip a little too much with Obama, in the minds of too many Republicans.”
Coker said straw ballots and censure votes, along with the outpouring of public anger at health care town-hall meetings and the tea-party protests, are “strong signs of an undercurrent out there, but how strong it is and whether it can sustain itself until next Aug. 24 will determine whether Rubio can make a run of it.”
Republican political consultant Roger Austin of Gainesville said “this thing is definitely do-able for Marco” if he can raise money for TV ads and get Crist into some debates. Rubio has called for 10 meetings with Crist, who has brushed him off.
“This is going to be a lot more of a race than many people think,” said Austin. “The Democrats have definitely tried to marginalize the tea-party people and the town-hall meetings, but I don’t know to what extent the Republican leadership has done so. Appealing to them is a smart move on his (Rubio’s) part.”
‘Real people’
In his standard stump speech, Rubio says he’s running on principle. He doesn’t accuse Crist of compromising or waffling, but it’s impossible not to know whom he’s talking about when he says “Republicans have had too many people run like Ronald Reagan and govern like Jimmy Carter.”
Rubio, 38, is a West Miami attorney who was elected to the House in 2000 and became the first Hispanic speaker 2007-08. His parents fled Castro’s Cuba, and Rubio opens many speeches by stressing that he grew up knowing what it means “when government picks the winners and losers” in an economy.
“I’m willing to lose elections over my principles,” he says. Although casino gambling polls about 68 percent in his district, Rubio said, he is adamantly against it — just as he opposes abortion, “even if 100 percent of my constituents were for it.”
Rubio said his party’s leaders are badly under estimating the tea party protestors and town hall meeting critics. He sees them as his base.
“They don’t think that these are real people,” he said of Greer, Crist and the congressional leadership. “They’re so insulated. Never has our political class been more insulated from the real lives of real people.”
Ex-speaker of Florida House addresses Lakeland Republicans.
PAUL JOHNSON | THE LEDGER
At the Cleveland Heights Golf Club, Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House and chief challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senator, addressed the Lakeland Republican Club.
Published: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 10:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 10:00 p.m.
LAKELAND | If Marco Rubio’s appearance in Lakeland on Wednesday is any indication of his support in his campaign for the U.S. Senate then Gov. Charlie Crist had better take notice.
Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House and chief challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senator, addressed the Lakeland Republican Club.
PAUL JOHNSON | THE LEDGER
At the Cleveland Heights Golf Club, Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House and chief challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senator, addressed the Lakeland Republican Club.
PAUL JOHNSON | THE LEDGER
At the Cleveland Heights Golf Club, Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House and chief challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senator, addressed the Lakeland Republican Club.
PAUL JOHNSON | THE LEDGER
Rubio, the former speaker of the Florida House who is challenging Crist for the Republican nomination, addressed a Lakeland Republican Club luncheon at Cleveland Heights Golf Course. The crowd that was expected to be about 160 grew to a little more than 190 and gave him three standing ovations.
His main message, to the audience and during an interview with The Ledger, was that Republicans should elect members of Congress who will stand up uncompromisingly to the “radical” economic policies of the administration of President Barack Obama. He implied that Crist wouldn’t do that.
Rubio, 38, said the state and national Republican hierarchy’s endorsement of Crist means little in the primary race.
“That has no negative impact. I am not new to politics,” he said. “We are showing the voters the choice they have.”
“Republicans are looking for someone to stand up to the most radical voice in Washington in American history, someone who is credible to Republican principles, and someone who understands that the Republicans of Florida are the natural home of alternative policies that are closer to what the country wants,” he said in his Ledger interview.
Rubio said he was disappointed in Crist’s choice of George Lemieux, the governor’s former chief of staff, to fill out the unexpired term of U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. He questioned whether “the governor’s best friend” was the best choice out of 4 million Florida Republicans.
He said he wants a debate with Crist, but said a year before the Republican primary, the Crist campaign is saying the governor doesn’t have the time for a debate.
Rubio cited Crist’s support for Obama’s stimulus package, his support for ”cap-and-trade” energy policy and his appointment to the Florida Supreme Court of James E.C. Perry, who Rubio called a radical. He said those stands show Crist doesn’t deserve Republican votes.
He also criticized Crist for what he said was a violation of his no-tax pledge by supporting large fee increases including the new, larger driver license fee.
“I think there has never been a bigger disconnect between the rank-and-file Republicans and the party leaders at the state and national level,” Rubio said.
He referred to radical policies of the Democratic Congress and administration, but explained to the audience that he was speaking of the economy.
“Let me be clear, this is not going to become Cuba or Angola. The American people will never allow that, but what makes America unique among nations is being lost,” he said.
And Republicans are to blame as well as Democrats, he said.
“Republicans in Washington are guilty. By 2001 Republicans were in control, but no tax reform, no fair tax. I say to them, you ran as Ronald Reagan and you governed as Lyndon Johnson,” he said to claps of approval from the audience.
He took issue with Crist’s support of the Obama stimulus plan and the governor’s statement that the stimulus money is Floridian’s tax money coming back home.
“I’ve got news for you,” Rubio said. “That’s not our tax money; they spent that 10 years ago.
“That’s Chinese money,” he said referring to loans from Chinese banks to the U.S. government. “More importantly that’s my 9-year-old daughter’s money.”
The program has gone much farther than most Americans had expected, he said.
“America accepted government spending because it was scared. It now has become a radical attempt to change the economy. Our (Republicans) only chance of success is to have alternatives not just to be the opposition,” he said.
One of those important alternatives, he said, is the fair or flat tax on income.
Rubio told his audience that health care reform may come in increments and that Republicans cannot take pride that they may stop half of the program this year.
“If they just set up the architecture this year, they will then come back each time until they achieve what I believe is their ultimate goal, a single-payer health insurance system,” he said.
Backers of health care reforms in the Senate Finance Committee have said that they do not intend to create a single-payer system, but to protect choices within the reform bill.
In his interview with The Ledger, Rubio said some straw polls of county Republican executive committees, which are being pushed by conservative organizations, have shown him winning handily over Crist.
He said he hopes to raise funds and campaign in many of the traditional areas and also make use of You Tube and Twitter to get his message across to younger voters.
Austin Cassidy, The Jacksonville Observer – Aug 20th, 2009
Marco Rubio scored a pretty major win in his underdog campaign for the U.S. Senate, landing on the cover of this week’s issue of the National Review, a well-respected conservative newsmagazine.
Rubio certainly faces an uphill battle by running against a sitting Governor with proven fundraising muscle, but the article explains that Rubio won’t actually have to match Crist dollar for dollar. The author correctly suggest that in a low-turnout Republican primary… anything can happen.
The article opens…
“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 one of the most liberal politicians in the Republican firmament. Rubio is among the brightest young stars on the right. Their contest could become the sleeper race of 2010.”
This national attention may help motivate groups like the Club for Growth to engage this primary race with some television advertising dollars. Rubio’s other secret weapon might be Jeb Bush, who speaks glowingly of him in several quotes.
The article in the Review also make reference to Rubio’s use of new media tools like YouTube and Twitter, which he has employed with great success…
“Thanks to YouTube, Rubio’s farewell address last year probably has been seen by more viewers than any other speech in the history of the Florida statehouse. That may sound like faint praise, and Rubio’s clip doesn’t compete with web sensations such as Susan Boyle or Obama Girl. But he’s gone about as viral as any state legislator can hope to go without setting his pants on fire. More recently, he has taken advantage of Twitter. He comments on everything from the state of his campaign to how long it takes his wife to get ready for a night out.”
MIAMI (CBS4) ―During a recent meeting of more than 200 conservatives in Broward County, Marco Rubio, the former Speaker of the Florida Legislature and the man now trying to upend Gov. Charlie Crist’s coronation as the state’s next United States Senator, explained why he opposed the federal stimulus plan and other spending bills Congress had passed.
“If we were obsessed with spending $2 trillion that we didn’t have, if that was the only choice we were given, and I think there were other choices by the way, but if that was the only choice we were given, we should have just suspended federal taxes for a year,” Rubio said. “That’s $2 trillion right there.”
Rubio’s comment drew a big round of applause from the crowd – many of whom were active in the anti-tax, anti-spending, anti-just-about-everything Tea Party protests that Rubio hopes will help form the core of his insurgency campaign. On July 4 alone, Rubio attended three Tea Party protests across the state.
The tax line was especially effective since almost everyone in the room knew Crist not only supported the stimulus plan but also literally stood shoulder-to-shoulder with President Obama at an event in Florida urging Congress to pass it.
“Republicans also bought into the notion of spending way too much,” Rubio said without mentioning Crist by name.
All night long, whether it was guns or taxes, he had what they considered the right answer. When a woman stood up to complain that Obama was “shredding our Constitution,” Rubio offered a lecture on why we need to limit government. “The Constitution is based on the notion that government has no power unless the constitution gives it to government,” he said. “That’s a unique concept in world history and we need to respect what that means.”
A few minutes later, when a gentleman offered the softball question of his stance on Israel, all Rubio needed to say was, “Israel is America’s best friend.” The crowd cheered.
Rubio also hits all the right chords for conservatives on abortion, touting votes he made against spending taxpayer money on stem cell research as well as a bill requiring women in Florida to view an ultrasound of the fetus before having it aborted. The measure passed the Florida House but failed in the state Senate.
Earlier in the day, Rubio appeared on a local talk radio station where he was hailed for a Tweet he sent out a day earlier regarding the Iranian protests. Rubio’s Tweet: “I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours.”
During the radio interview, Rubio seemed pleasantly pleased his message was creating a stir on both the left and the right. “Well they would have more options that’s for sure,” he said of the Iranian students. “I do think people have the right to armed resistance eventually if all other options fail.”
The one area – really the only area – where Rubio runs into trouble with conservatives is on the issue of immigration. In 2008, while Rubio was Speaker of the House, he blocked six bills that supporters of the bills say would have cracked down on illegal immigration.
“That will be your cross to bear,” the radio host ominously warned him.
Among other things, those bills would have required state officials to check the status of anyone applying for government benefits, would have required state contractors to use the federal E Verify program, and would compelled local police to check the status of everyone they arrest and turn over anyone in the country illegally to the federal government.
During his time as Speaker, Rubio, the child of Cuban immigrants, avoided questions on immigration policy, saying, “There is nothing the state of Florida can do unilaterally to solve global warming. And there is nothing we can do unilaterally to solve immigration.”
Today Rubio is trying to find a way to placate the far right of his party on immigration without alienating the very constituency he owes his political life to.
“My position has never been any different than it is right now,” he said in an interview. “I don’t view myself or our movement as an anti illegal immigration movement. I view it as a pro legal immigration movement.”
Trying to make that type of nuance palatable to a conservative base may be as big a challenge for Rubio as defeating Charlie Crist.
A GOP DREAM?
On paper, Marco Rubio is everything the Republican Party would seem to be looking for – a smart, young, charismatic Cuban American who could help win back Latinos at a time when the party is demographically moving toward Whig-status.
Rubio’s parents came to the United States from Cuba in 1959. His father got a job as a bartender at one of those swanky old Miami Beach hotels. In 1979, with Miami groaning under the weight of a rising immigrant population as well as an increase in crime, Rubio’s father decided to move the family to Las Vegas. “My parents saw the direction this community was going at that time and really didn’t want their kids growing up here,” he said.
Rubio was eight at the time. His father easily found another job ba
rtending while his mother worked as a casino maid at the Imperial Palace on the Vegas strip.
The family returned to South Florida in 1985. By then Rubio was already become enamored with politics. “That 1980 [Republican National] Convention was really what got me interested in politics,” he recalled. “And even as a young kid, I was only nine years old, but I could sense this whole malaise the country was going through, this thought that America’s best days had passed us.”
Can a nine-year-old discern a national malaise?
If you believe the hype, the 38-year-old Rubio has the potential to be a conservative doppelganger to Barack Obama. Like Obama, Rubio has the gift of speaking in soaring principled themes without getting bogged down in details. His demeanor is cool. He does not raise his voice or become overly emotional. He has never been someone who hides from the press to avoid talking about an issue. And although when he was first coming up in the Legislature, he was known to be thin-skinned, he doesn’t bristle as noticeably to criticism as he did just a couple of years ago.
Shortly after graduating from law school at the University of Miami, he was elected to the city commission of West Miami, a small middle-class largely Cuban-American enclave in the heart of Miami-Dade County. He was 27. Two years later entered the state legislature, rising to be the state’s first Cuban-American Speaker.
“Marco Rubio has already shown he’s articulate, he’s photogenic he’s been at a very young age the leader of our Florida House, so he’s got the leadership skills,” said Sharon Day, the secretary of the Republican National Committee who also attended the Broward meeting. “He is our party’s future.”
A Jeb Bush protégé, Rubio has picked up endorsements for his Senate bid from Mike Huckabee, who Rubio endorsed during the Republican presidential primary; and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who said on Fox News, Rubio “should be a part of our present, not just a part of our future. I think this Florida race is going to help define what the Republican Party really is.”
When Rubio first entered the Senate race, The Club for Growth hailed his arrival as “good news for Florida’s families and businesses” adding “his fiscally responsible, pro-growth approach in the State Capitol stands in stark contrast with other elements of the state government, led by Charlie Crist.” The National Review has championed him thoughtfulness, and Fox News has offered him prominent play on the network.
Yet despite the love from the right, Rubio is still a bit of a right-wing mirage, more fantasy than reality. In his most recent campaign report he raised a paltry $340,000 compared to the $4.3 million raised by Crist in just two months.
While Rubio was speaking to Broward Republicans, Crist was in Atlanta where both of Georgia’s senators, as well as the state’s governor, were hosting a fundraiser for him. Twenty-four hours earlier, no less than eight senators – including John McCain, John Cornyn, Lindsay Graham, and the man Crist hopes to replace, Mel Martinez – were on hand for another big money event for Crist.
No one expects Rubio to come close to the fundraising machine that is Charlie Crist, who has the benefit of not only being the perceived heir apparent but who also has the advantage of being a sitting governor with line item-item veto power over every dollar in the state budget. There are very few people power brokers in the state who can say no when Crist asks them to raise campaign cash.
But if Rubio continues to get crushed 12-to-1 or even 8-to-1 in fundraising, than the national conservative fundraisers might just find Rubio a bit too quixotic for their liking.
Rubio said he’s not worried. “People who give money because they are conservatives are giving money because they want to see a certain public policy be implemented,” he said. “Not because they want to be on the winning side.”
While Crist barnstorms Florida on his state plane for bill signings and well-orchestrated town hall meetings, Rubio has been logging hundreds of miles a week alone in his pick up truck or, when money allows, catching the cheapest flight he can find on Southwest Airlines.
“Is it frustrating to me? No. It’s irrelevant to me,” Rubio said of the money and support that has flowed to Crist. “I never expected to be the candidate of Washington DC and quite frankly I didn’t seek it and I wouldn’t have embraced it. When you run against the status quo to change it you can expect the status quo to fight back.”
Last year, as he was entering his final term as Speaker, Rubio told me he was glad to be stepping away from politics. “I don’t think human beings were built to be in power for 30 or 40 years,” he said in 2008.
Married for eleven years and the father of four young children, Rubio said he was concerned that his non-stop political life was affecting his family.
“I’ve come increasingly to the notion that I have obligations that are more important than just my political steps that have to be taken into account,” he said in 2008. “What good does it do me to continue in politics and rise to a statewide office if my son is in the juvenile justice system because dad’s not around or my daughter’s doing poorly in school or something along those lines? My kids are starting to be affected. My wife has been married to a politician every day of our marriage. Our entire family’s schedule has to be built around the political world.”
A year
later all that changed and he said he felt compelled to give the open Senate seat a try, “for the future of my children.”
His message is largely economic: bringing down the deficit, passing a balanced budget amendment, overhauling and simplifying the tax code, and driving home the belief that the next generation will be imperiled if fiscal discipline is not restored. He argues both parties cannot – should not – be trusted.
And where did the Republican Party go wrong?
“When it no longer stood for anything,” Rubio said. “When it no longer could identify itself as a movement, it just became an organization dedicated to smearing people and winning elections. I think that is when it went astray. When it lost its vision as a movement behind specific ideas that were relevant to people’s lives. Republicans are in the wilderness because they campaigned as one thing and then governed as another. Until we find our voice and are an authentic movement in America again, that’s where we will be, in the wilderness.”
IMMIGRATION AN ISSUE
If there is one area where Rubio can, at times, seem a bit lost in the woods it is on immigration. Discuss the issue with Rubio for any length of time and you can tell he is torn. His parents were born in Cuba, his wife is Colombian, and he lives in Miami-Dade County where more than half of the 2.4 million residents were born outside the United States, many of whom are in this country illegally because they either snuck into the country or simply over-stayed their visas.
Politically, immigration is a high-wire act for Rubio. He needs to reassure conservatives that just because he is Hispanic, he won’t show – dare I say it – empathy to those Hispanics who are here illegally, the way Mel Martinez, did when he strongly supported earlier efforts at immigration reform.
Rubio’s decision to block the six bills last year in the Florida Legislature on illegal immigration, only serves to fuel the right’s uneasiness toward him.
Karen Moore, the woman at the Broward event who asked Rubio the question about Obama “shredding” the Constitution, left the meeting saying she liked what Rubio had to say on everything except immigration. “I still hold against him the fact that he would not let those immigration bills come up for a vote,” she said.
“There is a segment of folks out there who harp on [the six bills],” Rubio told me later, “but it is really not something I am being asked all over.”
Nevertheless, while Rubio needs to be tough enough for the wigwam wing of the party (think small tent versus the moderate’s big tent), he also doesn’t want to come across as someone heartless enough to sell out his own people for a U.S. Senate seat.
The Sonia Sotomayor nomination to the Supreme Court presents a simlar challenge. At the same time Senator Martinez announced he would be voting to confirm Sotomayor, Rubio declared that he would have voted against her nomination – but only because he did not like her answers on the Second Amendment and the privacy clause. He praised her as being “eminently qualified from an academic standpoint” and said he was not unduly bothered by her “wise Latina” comment. He said he just wanted a strict constructionist on the court.
Additionally, it is difficult for a Cuban American to take an overly strident stand on immigration given the special status Cubans have enjoyed as a matter of law for decades. Simply setting a foot on dry land makes a Cuban immigrant legal. Cuban American politicians run the risk of coming across like hypocrites when they chastise Mexicans and Haitians for entering the country illegally but welcome Cubans who arrive here.
Asked about the perception of a double standard, Rubio said: “I get your point.”
Which may explain why Rubio consistently tries to pivot immigration questions to border security saying Americans are not willing to discuss anything regarding immigration reform until the border is secure. Rubio said he would have voted against the McCain-Kennedy bill granting a pathway for illegal immigrants to become legal and said he opposes all forms of amnesty.
But when you get past the clear, crisp bullet points of his speech, and start talking details, it becomes a lot fuzzier.
“I don’t believe you can grant them citizenship or even to create a path for it,” he said. “It would send a message that if you come into this country and you stay long enough we’ll allow you to stay in. On the other hand I also don’t think you can round them up. First of all I don’t think you can do it, second of all you would have to create a police state, and third of all I don’t want to live in a country where police and law enforcement are pulling people over because they think they might look like an illegal immigrant.”
Rubio opposes driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, saying he does not think illegal immigrants should be allowed to “interact freely with government.” But then, without any prodding, he argues the other side of the case saying, “We have a lot of uninsured drivers in areas where there are a lot of illegal immigrants because they can’t get insurance even if they wanted to.”
On the issue of food stamps and other benefits for illegal immigrants: “This is a humane country, we’re not going to starve children, we’re not going to watch people go hungry just because they are here illegally. On the other hand, it can’t bec
ome permanent. Once somebody interacts with government and it is verified they are here illegally that person’s days are going to be numbered in America.”
Should children of illegal immigrants be permitted to go to public school?
“The kids are illegal too, just like their parents,” he said. “I’m not here to hunt the kids down. I don’t think kids are the people we’re going to go after.” But he added, “Kids are attached to their parents. Once their parents status is verified their days should be numbered so that really shouldn’t be a problem.”
Essentially, Rubio’s answer is to leave them in the shadows, go after their employers, and hope life becomes so untenable for anyone here illegally that they will simply leave. The problem of what to do with those 13 to 20 million people here illegally, he said, “will solve itself through attrition.”
But even on employment, Rubio struggles. He supports the federal E Verify system “in concept,” but isn’t sold on the idea of a national database for employers to check the immigration status of emplyees has been perfected to the point where it should actually be used today.
He wants increased border security, but isn’t sure about a wall. “I don’t know if the wall is the best way,” he said. “I’m not a border security expert.”
He may need to become one before the campaign is over. If Congress takes up immigration reform this Fall, as many people believe it will, it could become a central issue in the campaign.
Rubio does have one advantage. If the far right is wary of Rubio on the issue, Charlie Crist, who is seen as being “soft” on illegal immigration, infuriates them.
“I despise Charlie Crist,” said Karen Moore, the woman who attended the Broward meeting. “I may not be completely sold on him, but I am going to fight to get Rubio elected so that Crist won’t be elected.”
The race for US Senate between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist is what it is all about to a political junkie like me. I have been interested in politics all my life, though my political interest at an early age was not a reflection of my parents’. It was more likely a reflection of my favorite subjects in school, history and civics.
I was thrilled when I registered to vote at age 21 and over the years I have taken my responsibility as a member of the American electorate very seriously. In grassroots circles I am what is known as a “super voter.” The kind of voter that all candidates seek to reach because I always go to the polls.
More than once while knocking on doors for my candidates, I have had folks tell me they always go to the polls. I smile knowingly and tell them that is why I am at their door. Though these super voters will often thank me for my efforts, I must say there is nothing in grassroots that is more satisfying and gives me a greater sense that I am making a difference for my candidate and my country than walking door to door.
That’s why the race for US Senate between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist is what it is all about to a political junkie like me. To me there is nothing more exciting and motivating than a candidate for which I am passionate, in a race for which I am passionate. Not since 2004 has an election held this level of excitement to me. Until now.
At church recently a friend who is a long time Republican spoke to me about his frustration with the Republican Party and the leadership’s support of moderate candidates. I said I have 2 words for you, Marco Rubio. I told him Rubio has ignited the passions of the grassroots across the state of Florida because he speaks of conservatism without apology. Rubio is not only a true conservative; he is charismatic, articulate and Hispanic. He is one of many faces needed for the future of our Party. He believes in a balanced budget and tax reform. He understands that it is the hard work of the American people, not the government that creates wealth. My friend walked away with a smile and said “I will spread the word.”
That conversation is why I believe this US Senate race is truly for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, and why I believe many super voters will have the same epiphany that I had in 2004 and realize now is the time for them to take that next step from super voter to grassroots volunteer. If not now, then when?
Pompano Beach FL - Grab your friends, family and everyone you know to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) for Edward Lynch this week. On Monday January 25th early voting began for the special election of Florida’s 19th Congressional District primary. Polling locations opened in Broward and Palm Beach counties. In Broward County there are only two locations open to vote, while in Palm Beach every precinct location within the 19th District will be open.
The favorite candidate on the Republican side is none other then Edward Lynch. Edward is an entrepreneur, lifelong fiscal conservative, business owner and caring humanitarian. By his own admission, Edward is just a “regular guy” and never considered the option of running for Congress. It was not until he witnessed first hand, the waste of taxpayer money, the corruption, the poor treatment of our veterans and the issues of our citizens never truly being addressed by our government officials, that he decided that it was time for a change and he was going to get involved to make those changes. His boundless energy, his passion, and his common sense approach to solving problems are the qualities that will serve him well as our next Congressman, and he will help to restore that which made America into the most prosperous and free country on the face of the earth.
