Charlie Crist leads over Marco Rubio 54 percent-23 percent (measuring registered Republicans) for the 2010 Senate seat in Florida according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. The other 23 percent of voters are undecided or giving other answers.

Rubio has a lot of ground to cover. Only 14 percent of those polled had a favorable opinion of Rubio and 73 percent said they did not know enough about Rubio to have an opinion of him. On the other hand, 60 percent of those polled have a favorable opinion of Crist.

This is not all that surprising as we usually explain who leads a race by name recognition and campaign fundraising, and Crist has plenty of capital in both. Rubio has plenty of experience fundraising also but it may be hard for him to compete with Crist. However, there is an interesting part of this race measured in the Quinnipiac poll that could provide Rubio with a chance to truly challenge Crist.

The poll asked Republicans what’s more important when voting in the primary – the candidates experience or the candidates’ ideas?  Only 36 percent said experience and 56 percent said ideas.  The influence of ideas grew for men where 64 percent of men said that ideas are more important compared to 28 percent of men that said experience was.

This could be read optimistically for Rubio as it challenges the traditional wisdom that name and money win all while asserting the role of ideas in politics.  Rather than out-fundraising Crist and challenging his experience, Rubio might find it more effective to challenge Crist on ideas.

This could potentially be an exciting race if that happens.

UPDATE: Fund-raising numbers for all the candidates appeared toay. As Mr. Schorsch points out in the comments, it’s not fair or balanced of me not to include the others in this post. So, after the jump you’ll now find Wagman’s press release and a rundown of all the candidates finances …

The following paragraph will appear in next week’s print edition of Creative Loafing in The Week That Was column:

Money in the bank: St. Pete’s mayoral candidates reported their first quarter fund-raising numbers last week. Per the St. Pete Times, the big winner was Deveron Gibbons, who raised $117,000 from January to March. Scott Wagman issued a press release reporting donations of $74,097.25, with 90% of the contributions coming from locals, though the Times points out he loaned himself $20,000 of that haul. Jamie Bennett’s website reports the candidate managed $30,918.47 “in cash and in-kind contributions.” Bill Foster had yet to report at press time, but he told the Times his first quarter report will show he raised between $23,000 and $24,000. Rounding out the field, Kathleen Ford reported $9,325 in donations plus another $3,242 in in-kind contributions (she blames her late entry into the race), Sharon Russ reported no activity and Paul Congemi loaned his campaign $10.

And now, the Wagman press release:

ST. PETERSBURG: Mayoral candidate Scott Wagman released his first-quarter fundraising report today with great pride and optimism about his candidacy.

“In these tough economic times, being able to receive this kind of financial support at this early stage is very encouraging,” said first-time candidate Scott Wagman. “As I have traveled the city on my ‘mission to listen’ I have heard a resounding call for change and action. Our city and its residents are hungry for strong new leadership and these early results are a great indication that our message and my candidacy are resonating with voters,” stated Wagman.

For the first financial quarter the Scott Wagman campaign will report revenue of $74,097.25 with $54,097.25 donated by 204 contributors. Of these early supporters an impressive 90% are local residents.

“In just three months we have seen our candidate go from virtually no name recognition to becoming a serious contender to be elected the next mayor of St. Petersburg,” said campaign co-manager Mitch Kates. “Think about it: In three months Scott Wagman has been able to put together a fully functioning political organization from the ground up, blow away the field with our online communication platforms, and complete door-to-door field efforts by volunteers in over 40 city precincts. All in all, we are very confident in our ability to win in November,” stated Kates.

For more information about Scott Wagman and his campaign, go to his website at www.scottwagman.com <http://www.scottwagman.com>  or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for-up-to-date information.

Two of my passions are gourmet food and politics. When I’m not walking door-to-door for a candidate, I’m in front of a stove or near a wine bin or doing something otherwise epicurean. So the fundraising event for a candidate running in Dunedin I recently attended was a real McFlurry, a seemingly contradictory juxtaposition that comes out wonderfully by the time you’re finished.

I was invited to a campaign fund-raiser with a theme of “Cooking with the Candidate” during which a five-course meal was prepared by a master chef, while the candidate, appropriately named Dave Eggers, milled about, wine glass in hand, talking to what I consider the perfect voter: one whose mouth is so filled (in this case with braised lamb) that they can’t ask any questions. It was Top Chef meets The West Wing. Guests were even given toques to wear.

Absorbing all of this, seeing how far this campaign had to go to pull of a successful event, it struck me that political fundraising is entering new territory now that the economy has crashed. No political consultant has ever tried to raise money for a candidate in this kind of environment.

If people rob banks because that’s where the money was, where do they go now? To whom do professional fundraisers — only slightly less criminal, but just as ambitious as bank robbers — turn for hefty donations? Certainly not investment bankers. They’re too busy filling out unemployment applications. What about Realtors? No, they’ve been earning 6 percent of nothing for more than a year. Certainly developers still have some money to dole out? One word rules them out: foreclosure.

Sure, there are some doctors and lawyers out there who can still cut a $500 check to a local candidate, but that can only get you so far. It’s so bad out there that a professional political fundraiser just told me that two of the traditionally largest donors to the local Republican Party are themselves 30 days away from Chapter 11.

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan makes the argument that we are about enter a new era of reading, that with less money, inexpensive pleasures like reading will displace expensive diversions like PlayStations and flat-screen televisions.

Take Noonan’s prediction a step further and apply her thinking to the changes that will impact political campaigns. Fewer TV commercials and more town hall meetings. Less direct mail, with it’s ever-increasing postage costs, and more door-knocking. Call it the return of retail politics. Except, like retailing itself, it’s all moving online.

At least, that’s where the technology is heading. Facebook is nothing if it’s not a town center. Blogs, Twitter, YouTube … they’re all free, and they’re the medium by which campaigns will be won.

That’s why there was something nostalgic about the campaign event I attended. At $50 a plate, this was a bargain for all involved. The candidate was able to leisurely interact with his supporters, offering real face-time with potential voters. He wasn’t Twittering — in fewer than 140 characters — his policy proposals. And the voters were able to get a real sense of the candidate, more than what you can glean by adding him as a friend on MySpace.

This may seem like a stretch, but good politics is a lot like good eating, and maybe that’s why they are my twin passions. Just as you can’t get a feel for a restaurant by making your reservation online via OpenTable, nor can you get the measure of a candidate by reading his website. Both actions are just starting points. You can’t know how something tastes by downloading a recipe, nor will you know how a politician thinks by downloading his speeches. You have to taste politics, just as you have to taste good food.

Bon Appetit.

Right now, “uncompensated Internet activity” is protected by a Federal Election Commission regulation that allows linking to campaign websites and writing about the views of federal candidates—which, without the regulation, could potentially be considered a campaign contribution or expenditure on the candidate’s behalf. Basically, blogs currently share the same protection from campaign finance restrictions as other media outlets.

The problem is that since this protection is regulatory, it can be changed without congressional action. Rep. Hensarling will introduce legislation that will create statutory blogger protections in the hopes of creating a more permanent solution for our online “pajama journalists.” Forge on, brave bloggers!

Its listing for the wealthy Sarasota car dealer:

• 10) Vern Buchanan , Republican

Florida’s 13th District (Southwest — Sarasota, most of Bradenton)

Campaign money: $1.4 million raised, $764,000 cash on hand

Buchanan was elected in 2006 to succeed two-term Republican Rep. Katherine Harris, who left open southwestern Florida’s 13th District to pursue a Senate campaign that failed. Buchanan’s 369-vote victory over Democrat Christine Jennings was exceptionally close — and controversial, as Democrats alleged that malfunctions in electronic voting machines led to a large “undervote” in a pro-Jennings county. Republicans said that the result was above board and that the Democrats were sore losers. Buchanan and Jennings are preparing for a rematch in 2008.

Of that money, an impressive $31 million is in primary dollars. (A quick primer in federal campaign rules; you can give up to $2,300 each for the primary and general elections, both on one check if you like. Some candidates use those double contributions to pump up their fundraising reports in the primary, even though they can’t legally spend the money unless they win the nomination.)

Sanchez estimated that $260,000 of that total came out of Tampa Bay, mostly from two fund raisers held in April, including a 2,000-person event in Ybor City.

More than 154,000 new donors gave to the Obama campaign between April and the end of June.

No word yet on Hillary Clinton’s quarter. The buzz (damn, hate using that word) at the Tampa Democrats For America training academy and in Orlando at the NALEO conference was it would be in the $25 million-$30 million range.

John Edwards just cracked the $9 million mark for the quarter, according to fundraising appeals from his campaign on Saturday.