R i g h t a r d i a: The Sunshine State Boys

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Sunshine State Boys

Rightardia suspects that Marco Rubio would be easy to beat in a senatorial election. He will probably be running against Kendrick Meek who is also from the Miami area. This will split the vote from South Florida in the general election.

Marco Rubio is a hard right conservative who is still smarting over the Cuban Revolution. I would expect Democrats in Central Florida to get solidly behind the Democratic nominee for Senate. Florida is now a newly minted blue state.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican Gov. Charlie Crist probably wasn't worried that embracing President Barack Obama back in February and supporting the $787 billion federal stimulus package would hurt his U.S. Senate campaign.

Sure, the hardcore party base wasn't happy, but the appearance was an opportunity to win over Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who voted for Obama. The president's approval ratings were high, and Republicans thinking about running for an open seat in 2010 stopped thinking about it when Crist signaled interest.

That is except former House Speaker Marco Rubio. Political insiders said it wasn't logical to challenge an incumbent governor who had high approval ratings and could raise gobs of money.

However, Rubio said it didn't make sense for the highest-profile Republican in Florida to embrace a Democratic president and a plan that would raise the federal deficit.

Now Rubio is gaining momentum as he reminds Republican voters of Crist's hug. And the same political insiders who downplayed Rubio are starting to think the unthinkable: Crist's campaign might be threatened by another Republican.

"I just knew that if we were true to ourselves and what we stand for, and we went out and told enough people about it, that we would begin to make progress and that's what's happening," Rubio said.