[Video] Marco Rubio on Fox News: Senate race against Charlie Crist only now ‘coming into focus’
May 14, 2009 at 8:22 am by Ben Luongo
By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor
Only after Charlie Crist announced his bid for the Senate was Marco Rubio’s campaign message, to use his words, “coming into focus.” After Crist announced his Senate candidacy, Rubio aired his first attack ad which linked Crist to President Barack Obama. Rubio then went on Fox News to pitch his campaign and talk about why Crist is not the man for the job.
The video to that interview is after the jump.
Rubio does have a political resume. He used to serve as West Miami’s City Commissioner and then went on to serve in the House of Representatives. In 2006 he was elected the Speaker of the Florida State House. However, despite his experience, he comes off as a rookie, not only in comparison to Crist’s fundraising and name recognition, but more importantly because of his idealism.
Rubio starts the interview talking about “the crossroads” and what “we want republicanism to mean in the 21st century.” He goes on to say “that’s what this election is going to be about, a very different view of what republicanism should be about.” However, the election shouldn’t be about what Rubio thinks republicanism should mean. The election should be about what is in the best interest of Floridians and what they want, and after Florida voted for Obama and republican approval ratings dropped, it doesn’t seem like we want to talk about what republicanism means anymore.
Rubio has his ideals, and that’s fine, but the virtues of republican ideals are not enough to win a senate seat. You have to convince the voters that you are the one to represent them. Some say that Rubio might have an edge on Crist because he can appeal to the Hispanic vote. However, it was the Hispanic vote that helped Obama take the state and linking your opponent to Obama is not a very effective way to reach out to those voters. Again, Rubio has to start thinking about how to attract votes and not worry about what it means to be Republican.
In short, if Rubio wants to win, then he has to start acting like this is an election, not a chance at redefining his party.
