Is This Thing Still On?

From 2009 to 2015.  We've come a long way, baby!

Obama is "doing what's right for the country" Says Charlie Crist

Now why doesn't this surprise me?  Via The Corner:

In a rare television interview, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who left the Republican Party during his unsuccessful 2010 U.S. Senate bid, told Chuck Todd on “The Daily Rundown” that he’d consider voting for President Obama in November.

“Consider? Sure, I would consider that,” said Crist. “I really think he’s sincere and genuine. I think we have a lot time, a lot of issues to talk about, but I think, in his heart, he’s trying to do what’s right for the country overall.”

Remember, this blog was founded specifically because in 2009 the NRSC supported Gov. Charlie Crist in a Senate primary against rising conservative star Marco Rubio which enraged conservatives across the nation. 

Charlie Crist has just validated the very existence of this blog.  "...he's trying to do what's right for the country overall"?  Seriously?

Note to Mr. Crist:

Please explain why Solyndra was "right for the country"? 
Why was Fast 'n Furious "right for the country"?
Why was it "right for the country" to nearly triple entitlement spending?
 How is slashing defense spending "right for the country"?
How are those unintended consequences of the power-grabbing Obamacare legislation "right for the country"?
I don't think the folks around the Gulf of Mexico think the drilling moratorium was "right for the country".

Need I go on?

Charlie Crist is free to vote for whomever he chooses, of course, just as conservatives were free to reject Crist's poorly camouflaged liberal tripe. 

And to the NRSC, remember, "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."

Not one red cent!

The Face of the Future

Four minutes well spent:



Via The Other McCain

Tonight's" WTF Moment" Comes From Politico

Via Politico, a real WTF moment:

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, helped elect Rubio, and like many Republicans, is putting a lot of pressure on him to live up to expectations.

Hunh?  Isn't Cornyn the guy who endorsed Crist right out of the gate?  What am I missing here?

(Cross posted at And So it Goes in Shreveport)

Senator Marco Rubio and Family

Charlie Crist Knows Waffles

So Charlie Crist would have us believe that he "misspoke" when he said he'd have voted FOR Obamacare.  What he really meant, he says now, is that he would have voted against it because it's too big and it cuts Medicare Advantage.  That was probably AFTER his handlers reminded him that lots of voters in Florida rely on Medicare Advantage and might think poorly of his position.  Oops.

It's kind of like his "misspoke" when he said he was absolutely going to run as a Republican in this Senate campaign:

“To put these rumors to rest once and for all, as we have said countless times before, Governor Crist is running for the United States Senate as a Republican. He will not run as an Independent or as a No Party Affiliation.

It's kind of like he "misspoke" when he spoke in support of the stimulus but backed off of that and said he never supported it.

"I know it will help my state and that's why I support it!"

While in November 2009 he says "I didn't endorse it!"

Actually, during the debate between Crist and Rubio in March of this year, Crist said he'd vote to repeal Obamacare but he's also said he would not scrap Obamacare.  Which is it?

Which is it, Charlie?  Make up your mind.

Cross posted at And So it Goes in Shreveport

Marco Rubio Responds To Moronic Dolt, Harry Reid

For starters, Harry Reid can't see much of anything beyond his own political divide. Which explains how he can say what he did about Hispanics. A republican Hispanic doesn't fit into his mindset. Worlds collide with dogs and cats living together or something.

Which brings us to Marco Rubio. Who happens to be Hispanic and a Republican running for Senate in Florida.



Reid has a 'D' after his name. Sadly, he can make stupid statements like he did and still be sitting as Majority Leader in the Senate.

Quarterly Campaign Report Is In For Marco Rubio

In the year ending 2009 quarterly report, Rubio raised $1.75 million.

The first quarter of this year, Rubio was up to $3.6 million.

This last quarter alone, Rubio has raised $4.5 million. Even former Crist donor, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, has chipped into Rubio's campaign chest.

Crist, on the other hand, has gone from $2 million to $1.1 million to not disclosing what he's brought in so far.

Update: Crist finally chimed in with $1.8 million.

Rubio Pounds Crist With New Ad

Powerful stuff!

Four Reasons Why Crist Will Lose

It's always dangerous to get close to a backstabber. The news that Charlie Crist won't refund contributions he received from Republican donors inspired me to explain why Crist's independent campaign is doomed:

• Crist will get no more Republican money. Fundraising is crucial to politics, and there are no direct-mail lists of "raging moderates" who will donate to an independent Crist campaign. It was estimated in late April that Crist quit the GOP race with $6 million cash-on-hand. Based on his previous "burn rate," he's unlikely to have half that amount remaining by Labor Day. Florida is a large state where running TV ads statewide (from Miami to Orlando to Jacksonville to Pensacola) is very expensive. Crist will get buried under an avalanche of TV ads in September and October.
• Crist has no campaign "ground game" infrastructure. Who will be county chairmen and precinct captains for Crist? Where will he find volunteers to staff local offices, working the phones and handing out yard signs? Crist must build a campaign apparatus from scratch, while Rubio will have the well-established election machinery of the Republican Party working for him. As Rubio's senior advisors said in a memo last month, "Florida’s county GOP offices are some of the most organized and sophisticated in the country . . . Crist will be starting from scratch to recruit, organize and mobilize volunteers for his campaign, whereas both Marco and [Democratic candidate Kendrick] Meek will have built-in volunteer networks to draw from."
• Nobody trusts a traitor. And nobody respects a quitter, as Arlen Specter is belatedly learning. Like Specter's switch to the Democrats, Crist's decision to go independent was pure selfishness. Crist had expected his handpicked state GOP chairman Jim Greer to deliver the Senate nomination on a silver platter, and when that didn't happen, Crist decided to take his ball and go home. Think of how that lends itself to a devastating 30-second TV ad.
• Rubio will win the debates. For nearly a year, Crist avoided debating Rubio. Once they finally met in a debate -- March 28 on "Fox News Sunday" -- it was obvious why, and Crist quit the GOP primary less than a month later. At some point this fall, Crist will have to share a debate stage with Rubio and the Democrat, Meek. Charlie will lose that debate, too, for the simple reason that there is no persuasive political rationale for Crist's candidacy. If Florida voters want an Obama-hugging, stimulus-endorsing, liberal stooge for Harry Reid, they'll support Kendrick Meek.

And any Republican operative who hires on with the Crist campaign is committing career suicide. Working for a RINO is bad enough, but working for an ex-RINO loser . . . well, that's what pilots call an "unrecoverable error."

MARCO RUBIO FOR U.S. SENATE

Charlie Crist To Run As An Independent

Via Drudge.

John Cornyn wept.

Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided he will run as an independent in the race to fill the Florida U.S. Senate seat, Crist allies tell Fox News. The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 5pm ET in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Senate campaign has been rough and tumble for Crist, he was once the front-runner -- but in recent months began trailing his GOP opponent, Florida State Speaker Marco Rubio.

Crist has said that under no circumstance would he drop out of the race, saying he will do what is best for the voters of Florida. The governor says Republicans in Washington want him to stay in the Republican party but voters in Florida have told him they want him to run as an independent.

Not shocking at all to anyone who has been following the campaign.

Can We Call Marco Rubio A Fundraising Star Now?

Chalk this up as one more reason for the NRSC to stay out of the primary. It seems like Marco Rubio is starting to self finance just fine all his own.

[VA]Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has now become a national leader for conservative causes--and you don't have to take just our word for it.

Cuccinelli is a "nationwide leader in fighting the unconstitutional excesses of the federal government." That's according to Marco Rubio, a candidate in the GOP primary for senator in Florida and himself a conservative favorite, in a statement accepting Cuccinelli's endorsement of his candidacy this weekend.

Cuccinelli has joined a variety of Republicans taking sides in the Florida primary battle between Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist. Last week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) also chose the more conservative Rubio over Crist.

If I recall, one of the big reasons why the NRSC asked Crist to run was because Crist could self-finance an election at the time. That will be an issue when he goes with an independent bid.

As of March 31, Crist was sitting on a healthy $7.6 million in his federal campaign account, but he’s going to need every penny — and more — in a race where a statewide media buy likely will cost well more than $1 million per week this fall.

Besides advertising, Crist will have to build a get-out-the-vote operation and gather voter information to microtarget his voters. One operative who has worked on multiple high-profile Independent campaigns said both of those important components — which make up a major part of what party organizations provide — can be bought on the open market, for a price.

But unlike New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), who spent $102 million of his vast fortune to win re-election last fall, Crist can’t self-fund his bid.
[. . .]
Crist won’t be legally obligated to return the money that he’s raised and could try weathering the storm to preserve precious cash. But that would create its own issues with news stories about donors saying Crist took their money under false pretenses. If nothing else, it will be an awkward story for Crist to deal with as he tries to relaunch and rebrand himself.

Exit Question: What state should Crist retire quietly to?

Cross posted here At The Point Of A Gun.

Crist Campaign Cracks Up in Florida

What in the world is going on with Charlie Crist?  I've all but blown him off as irrelevant in the past few weeks as Rubio has surged past him in the polls, but now with Crist's "dithering" and odd behavior regarding his status in the race, one can't help but notice.  Maybe that's his intent.

Larry Thornberry at American Spectator has been keeping an eye on Crist while I've had my head turned and posts a great piece this morning:

Well, there are promises and there are Charlie Crist promises. After two years of most un-Republican-like behavior, Crist appears to be on a path to making the obvious official by leaving the Republican Party. Finding himself behind Rubio by between 11 and 32 points, depending on which recent poll he consulted, for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat Mel Martinez resigned from last summer, Crist is left with the options of admitting defeat and withdrawing from the race or running as an independent. He has until the April 30 filing deadline to decide.

That's the big question right now:  will Crist run as an independent, a Republican, or drop out altogether.  It's interesting that nobody seems to really trust what Crist says.  Even though he has said countless times that he'll run as a Republican, who really believes that?  

The Wall Street Journal reports that Crist is already laying the groundwork for an independent run:

Several advisers to Mr. Crist say the governor believes that an independent candidacy is his only chance to win the Senate seat. He is moving closer to deciding to take that course, they say, but still has qualms about leaving the GOP.

Crist's campaign against Rubio has been primarily one of character assassination because even Crist knows he can't beat Rubio on the issues.  Met with disdain from Republicans, Crist has now pulled his attack ads against Rubio in some Florida markets.

The entire boondoggle gets even more complicated today as we get word that the Feds are now investigating Rubio and two of Crist's advisers regarding the use of party credit cards.  


Ed Morrissey at Hot Air points out that Rubio has the most to lose in this investigation:

Obviously, Rubio has the most to lose. Not only is he the front runner in this race, but he’s the one candidate whose name has been attached to the scandal. Running on a Tea Party platform of government reform and accountability, Rubio also has the most to lose in terms of public perception.

I would contend that is stating the obvious.  Rubio has already addressed this issue publicly and paid back the funds in question.

And, really, what does Crist have to lose at this point?

Cross posted at And So it Goes in Shreveport

It is Too Late for Charlie to Come Back Now

Compare this:

BACKGROUND: RUBIO’S STRAW POLL RECORD (23-0)

-Pasco County REC: 73-9 (June 2009)

-Lee County REC: 60-11 (July 2009)

-Highlands County REC: 75-1 (July 2009)

-Bay County REC: 23-2 (August 2009)

-Jefferson County REC: 87 Percent (August 2009)

-Florida Federation of College Republicans: 19-6 (August 2009)

-Republican Women’s Club of Duval Federated: 65-4 (September 2009)

-Gilchrist County REC: 11-1 (September 2009)

-Hernando County REC: 46-0 (September 2009)

-Northwest Orange Republican Women Federation: 49-3 (September 2009)

-Marion County REC: 40-8 (September 2009)

-Palm Beach County REC: 90-17 (October 2009)

-Okaloosa County REC: 86-4 (November 2009)

-Republican Club of South Sarasota County: 70-17 Percent (November 2009)

-Orange County Republican Party Hob Nob: 211-27 (November 2009)

-Pinellas County REC: 106-54 (January 2010)

-Okeechobee County REC: 10-0 (January 2010)

-Florida Federation of College Republicans: 71 percent (January 2010)

-Republican Business Council of North Central Florida: 141-12 (January 2010)

-Capital Conservatives: 40-0 (February 2010)

-Capital City Republican Club: 71-15 (February 2010)

-Brevard County GOP: 321-45 (February 2010)

-Orlando Tea Party: 277-17 (February 2010)

With this:

Charlie Crist gets to set the course for the GOP after all. (Whether it’s where Republicans want to be led -- that’s another question.)

Since we know that he’s listening and all -- what he’s hearing back is some mixed sounds, of varying volumes.

A party switch for Gov. Crist, R-Fla., may be his only remaining path to becoming a United States senator.

But it’s a path fraught with peril for the Republican Party -- and the possibility of Democrat Kendrick Meek winning in a three-way race would only be the GOP’s most immediate concern.

The storyline of Republican disarray was just about put to bed, or at least was on track to come to an end with this year’s primary season. Under the preferred (conservative) Republican scenario, Marcio Rubio defeats Charlie Crist, the Tea Party gets to drink deeply in victory, and there’s no Dede Scozzafava to worry about.

But if Crist runs as an independent, he writes a new chapter in a divisive story for the GOP, one that we’ll still be reading in November.

Looking at the results from the straw polls we see a Florida Republican Party that is united, statewide, behind Marco Rubio. In the excerpt above from Rick Klein’s article in The Note you would think that Rubio is the “Tea Party” candidate and that Crist is the “mainstream” guy. Not exactly the reality of the situation. And while it may be true that the national Republican Party has been in disarray, our state GOP is quite cohesive, particularly since we’ve been rid of Crist crony, former state chairman Jim Greer. Further, Klein’s article assumes two scenarios in the event of a three way race:

First, Rubio captures the far Right, Meek captures the far Left and Crist wins that wide swath in the middle.

OR

Second, Rubio captures the far Right and Meek and Crist split everything else with Crist taking just enough to become Florida's next senator.

More likely, if Crist launches an Independent bid, Crist and Meek will split the Left while Rubio will take the Center and Right and Rubio will be our Senator. As it stands now, Crist can't even take Pinellas County.

2008 not withstanding, Florida is a Center Right to Right state. Neither Meek nor Crist stand a chance of winning in November. Crist's best hope is 2012, but only if he uses the next two years to reinvent himself, ala John McCain, as a Conservative. If Crist really is a pragmatist, now would be a good time for him to show it.

Cross posted at Carol's Closet

Interesting

This was just posted at Ace's.

Mitt Romney to endorse Marco Rubio.

No other details yet.

UPDATED: More info here on the courageous Mitt and how he took the leadership reigns into his capable hands. Curious that Romney managed to tip his hand so soon after the Crist campaign started to circle the drain. Almost as if he wet his finger and tested the winds.

How it does help is that many retires from New York and Massachusetts will feel more at ease voting for a conservatives when such noted moderates have endorsed Rubio.

This Friday News Dump Was Embarrassing

Especially in light of Rubio's releasing his numbers earlier this week.

Charlie Crist has finally released his figures from the last quarter.

Charlie Crist, once known as a world champion money-raiser, announced Friday that he had raised $1.1 million for his U.S. Senate campaign this year -- less than one-third of what Republican front-runner Marco Rubio raised in that period.
[. . .]
Crist campaign manager Eric Eikenberg spun the weak total as due to Crist being busy governing. . .

That's about half of what he raised in the last quarter of 2009. Which was less than the quarter before that. I think the word is 'Nomentum'.

Cross posted here At The Point Of A Gun.

Sorry Charlie Crist Circles the Drain

If it wasn't stick-a-fork-in-him time Monday, when Rudy Giuliani endorsed Marco Rubio, maybe the latest fundraising numbers will convince Sorry Charlie to pull the plug:

Marco Rubio's remarkable fundraising haul — $3.6 million this quarter, he just announced — is a reminder of the scale of his stardom inside the Republican Party, all of whose core constituencies seem to like the guy.

That's the Politico's Ben Smith, who finds spontaneous 2012 Rubio-for-President talk coming from Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. That's getting way ahead of the game, but it does indicate the kind of insuperable energy that has been unleashed against Crist.

What's impressive about Rubio's fundraising report is that his average donation was less than $100 and fewer than 1% of his donors are "maxed out." He's had more than 50,000 contributors to date. That means all he has to do is contact his list of donors and say, "How about another $20?" and -- bam! -- he's got another million dollars, right there. Small donors make a big difference, and it's highly unlikely that Crist can match that kind of grassroots enthusiasm.

Check out this new campaign ad by Rubio:

One More Endorsement Breaking For Rubio

That in the form of Rudy Giuliani. Word is that he'll be making an announcement this upcoming Monday to make it official.

The AP reports that Rudy Giuliani will endorse Marco Rubio on Monday. This endorsement could damage Charlie Crist's attempts to appeal to moderates and independents. The backstory here: Crist reportedly offered his endorsement to Giuliani in the 2008 Republican primary but backed out after McCain convinced Crist that Rudy couldn't win.

Thanks to someone.

This Is Interesting

Considering that the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist with nary a thought about the primary.

Senator Tom Coburn has endorsed Marco Rubio.

“I have closely studied Florida’s Senate candidates and have no doubt that Marco Rubio is the only fiscal conservative in this race," the Oklahoma Republican said in a statement. “Rubio would be a faithful guardian of taxpayer dollars in Washington and a valued ally in the Senate. At a time when Washington is piling on crippling debt on our economy, the American people need Marco Rubio in Washington to stand up to this reckless behavior and offer clear conservative solutions."

Crist needs to withdrawal quietly. Especially if he wants John McCain to campaign for him. The last thing the media needs is an R on R battle with lines being drawn in the sand all the way up to the US Senate. It's for the greater good, Charlie Crist. Quit now.

RELATED/ADDED:

Crist received the Don Shula endorsement. As well as the stamp of approval from this guy:

[Col. Bud] Day confirmed he was speaking of Obama and Rubio.

“You’ve got the black one with the reading thing. He can go as fast as the speed of light and has no idea what he’s saying,” Day said. “I put Rubio in that same category, except I don’t know if he’s using one of those readers.” [emphasis mine]

Marco Rubio Responds To The Issues That Matter

Which Charlie Crist happens to think is getting a back wax.

Is there any wonder why Crist is behind by 30 points in some polls?

Video via Freedom's Lighthouse.



Cross posted here At The Point Of A Gun.