bobbyw24
11-10-2009, 06:21 AM
In Florida, Opponents Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio Offer Two Very Different Visions for the Future of the Republican Party
Florida Senate hopeful Marco Rubio is sitting in a hotel lobby in midtown Manhattan, arguing that his Republican Party has a decision to make.
"It's what the party's going to be about," says Rubio, the 38-year-old former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. "It's not a choice between two evil paths. It's a choice between one I believe is right and one I believe is wrong."
A choice, in other words, between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.
Rubio and Crist are competing against each other in a Republican primary to fill the seat previously held by Republican Mel Martinez, who resigned in August. (The current senator, George LeMieux - who was appointed by Crist - has said he's not going to run.)
When he announced in May that he was running for the seat, Crist was expected to have a relatively easy time winning the primary, and then the general election: A popular Republican governor with the backing of the GOP establishment, he'd staked out moderate positions on climate change and government spending that made him palatable to Florida's independents and Democrats.
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2009/11/09/image5589838g.jpg
Six months on, however, Crist looks vulnerable. His poll numbers are down, though he still has a sizable, if shrinking, lead over Rubio. What he does not have is the enthusiasm of the state's Republican activists, who have repeatedly indicated their preference for Rubio in straw polls.
Continue
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/09/politics/main5591771.shtml
Florida Senate hopeful Marco Rubio is sitting in a hotel lobby in midtown Manhattan, arguing that his Republican Party has a decision to make.
"It's what the party's going to be about," says Rubio, the 38-year-old former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. "It's not a choice between two evil paths. It's a choice between one I believe is right and one I believe is wrong."
A choice, in other words, between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.
Rubio and Crist are competing against each other in a Republican primary to fill the seat previously held by Republican Mel Martinez, who resigned in August. (The current senator, George LeMieux - who was appointed by Crist - has said he's not going to run.)
When he announced in May that he was running for the seat, Crist was expected to have a relatively easy time winning the primary, and then the general election: A popular Republican governor with the backing of the GOP establishment, he'd staked out moderate positions on climate change and government spending that made him palatable to Florida's independents and Democrats.
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2009/11/09/image5589838g.jpg
Six months on, however, Crist looks vulnerable. His poll numbers are down, though he still has a sizable, if shrinking, lead over Rubio. What he does not have is the enthusiasm of the state's Republican activists, who have repeatedly indicated their preference for Rubio in straw polls.
Continue
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/09/politics/main5591771.shtml