Despite the censure vote on Governor Charlie Crist last week that evenly divided Palm Beach County Republicans (it failed to pass as the group deadlocked at 65 votes apiece), the head of the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee says his membership is united.

They’re ALL disappointed in Governor Crist.

“There was not a single person last night out of 130 votes, and about 30 or 40 speakers, who got up there to tell us what a good job the governor is doing,”  said Sid Dinerstein, the chair of the Palm Beach County REC.

That vote comes a week and a half after the Volusia County GOP voted “overwhelmingly” in a voice vote to censure the governor.  The list of his perceived transgressions is long, including the governor’s enthusiasm for Barack Obama’s stimulus package and his failure to endorse certain GOP Congressional candidates. But for many, the most damning was his selection of liberal Justice James E. C. Perry to the state Supreme Court last March.

From speaking to several conservatives last week, it seems to be the selection of Perry to the high court that rankles most severely.

That was the last of the unprecedented four new Supreme Court Justices that Crist has had the opportunity to select, more than any previous governor in state history.  And after nominating several solidly conservative justices (among them former Polk County-based U.S. Congressman Charles Canady, best known nationally for being one of the 13 House Managers who argued before the Senate for the impeachment of Bill Clinton),  Crist emphasized his centrist credentials by selecting the 65-year-old Perry, only the second black to be named to the Supreme Court.

But Perry’s selection was part of the old Charlie Crist, the raging moderate who debated Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal earlier this year on Meet The Press regarding what philosophy best represented where the GOP should move next in the wake of its shellacking at the polls last November.

The new Charlie Crist is one strongly motivated by the stirrings in the state party for his rival, Marco Rubio.

Although the governor is thoroughly whipping the former House Speaker when it comes to fundraising, it is the 38-year-old Cuban-American from Miami who is turning on the base, not the man who is collecting censure votes from various county political parties.

In recent weeks the guv, celebrated by environmental groups throughout Florida for being in the small vanguard of GOP leaders with a vision regarding global warming, has strongly hinted that he will cancel his climate change summit, and is also backing away from advocating a cap and trade energy policy.

This follows his failure to veto Senate Bill 360, the controversial anti-growth management bill that has engendered the wrath of both liberals and conservatives throughout the Sunshine State, but was strongly supported by the developer community.

And then there’s the strange case of his lack of support for recently appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Last month, while the whole nation was buzzing (pro and con) about the self-proclaimed “wise Latina,” Crist originally told reporters when asked his opinion that he had no opinion about her, even as the Senate Judiciary Committee began their hearings.

Then, after his close ally Mel Martinez spoke movingly in support of her in what was ultimately a valedictory of sorts, the governor aligned himself with the other 31 GOP senators who somehow found her to be outside the mainstream of contemporary American jurisprudence, alienating some Latino groups.

As University of Central Florida Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett said last week, “I found it interesting that when he didn’t really have an actual vote, he took the symbolic gesture of going out of his way to say he would not vote for her if he was in there.  Yet, when he had the chance to put a conservative on the Florida Supreme Court (which he did the first couple of times), the last person was a more liberal judge from Central Florida.  So, it’s interesting to see the Governor maneuver.”

Interesting, indeed. Crist has apparently learned his lesson of appearing to be too close to Barack Obama.  After being one of the few noted Republicans in the country to embrace the federal stimulus package this winter, the Governor is staying far away from any type of endorsement of the health care proposals that the president and Congressional Democrats are stumping for.

No, instead, he is touting his own Cover Florida proposal as a “national model that the feds could be wise to emulate as a private sector alternative.”

One problem, though —  hardly anybody in Florida is on the system.  As the Miami Herald reported last week, in a state with nearly 4 million uninsured people, only 3,757 have signed up (less than 1 percent).

And what about the stimulus plan that the governor has taken so much heat for supporting?  Although conservatives nationally have already declared the bill a failure, most neutral analysts have reasoned that too much of it is designed to kick in later this year and much of next year to give it a final grade.

But it doesn’t help to learn that the state ranks dead last in the country when it comes to spending highway money approved in the program (though Crist and other state officials have denounced that finding, claiming that the state’s spending has been characterized by “integrity, rather than speed”).

Nevertheless, the twisting and turning of positions could expose independents and Democrats to what hardcore Republicans (like PoHo contributor Chris Ingram) have been saying for a while — that Crist’s integrity, if not his overall record, is spotty, and he may not deserve a coronation to the U.S. Senate next year.

But the maxim in state politics for the past couple of years in Florida has been that Charlie Crist is untouchable. Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek certainly don’t think so.  The question is whether the rest of the Florida electorate will follow them.

By Chris Ingram
PoHo contributor

My prediction has now come true. Mel Martinez is resigning his senate seat. Give it a couple of days, and I expect you’ll be reading about our oh-so-tanned governor announcing he is appointing himself to Martinez’s seat because (sorry to John Morgan), he’s “for the people.”

Yes, this is legal.

For the record, our spineless governor has stated he won’t appoint himself. This is the same guy who said he wasn’t going to run for the senate, said he wasn’t interested in being McCain’s running mate, and said he was going to make our taxes “drop like a rock.” You get the picture? His word is no good.

While certainly a political backlash will occur if Mr. For the People appoints himself, it will be brief. A couple of weeks of criticism, slams from the editorial pages, and letters to the editor from people outraged at the selfish opportunism (not that anyone should be surprised at Chuckles’ political opportunism) and that will be it.

Voters have a short attention span, and an even shorter memory. Barring Marco Rubio winning the Power Ball lottery and self-financing his campaign with his new-found millions, he won’t be able to run enough TV ads before next September’s Primary Election to remind voters about Mel and Charlie’s end-around to get Chuckie to the U.S. Senate.

In short, there is very little downside to the Chuckster taking advantage of the opportunity his pal Mel has handed him. Politics 101 dictates being an incumbent rocks when it comes to getting reelected. I’ll bet a case of Starkist Tuna Charlie realizes this and appoints himself.

I expect Too-tan Charlie will argue that in these serious times we need someone who will be the “people’s senator.” He’ll point out that it is in Florida’s interest for him to be senator before the election because he will have a leg up on the seniority ladder compared to the other freshmen senators elected in November.  He’ll get others from the establishment wing of the GOP to help him make his case that “better committee assignments will improve the lives of the people of Florida,” and “Florida needs Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate.” Blah, blah, blah…

The voters may smell a rat, but the real question is will they bring rat poison to the ballot box? Call me a cynic, but I doubt it.

On a related note, someone ought to look into when “Smel” Martinez becomes eligible for the very generous federal retirement benefits graced upon our esteemed former members of Congress. I think we’ll find it is strikingly close to his resignation date.

But regardless of Mel’s pension benefits, it looks more and more likely Charlie Crist will fulfill his life-long dream of being a U.S. Senator. So we’ll be saying “Senator Crist” real soon — instead of “Sorry Charlie” if the people had gotten their chance to have a truly fair opportunity to make the choice themselves.

I’m ready to burn my voter ID card because if what I suspects will happen happens, the casting of a vote in this race will be nothing short of a sham.

At least now maybe Marco Rubio will see fit to drop his longshot candidacy against Chuckles and will take on Bill “Howdy Doody” McCollum for governor. He ought to consider it because the fat lady just walked on the stage.

Now if I’m wrong about all this and Charlie appoints someone else as a “care-taker” senator who might it be? Admiral LeRoy Collins who ran against Katherine Harris in the GOP U.S. Senate Primary in 2006 would be a great call. Collins is intelligent, thoughtful, capable, and competent. I worked on Collins’ longshot campaign and I can say he is one of the greatest public servants I have ever known. And Charlie knows this. Admiral Collins is the governor’s appointed director of the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.

I’d be happy to eat some crow, and what they heck, I’d even eat a case of tuna if I’m wrong should Charlie do the right thing and appoint LeRoy Collins. But I don’t think it will happen and either way, Charlie will still remain sorry.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of www.IrreverentView.com. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@411Communications.net.

By Chris Ingram
PoHo contributor

An Open Letter to Sen. Saxby Chambliss:

Dear Senator:

We have known each other for many years, and I have always admired your conservative values and principles.

However, due to your recent endorsement of Charlie Crist in the open Florida U.S. Senate seat, which is a contested race among more than one Republican (including Marco Rubio), I now doubt your sincerity for honest and fair elections, not to mention good leadership and responsible government.

While perhaps you may have been too preoccupied finding ways to get yourself re-elected and weren’t paying attention when Charlie Crist fully embraced President Obama’s reckless and fiscally unsound “stimulus” plan, Floridians were watching.

And while Obama and the Democrats’ plan stinks, I must admit you and your fellow Republicans in Congress did a terrible job controlling spending during eight years of Bush Junior. I have previously referred to Congress’ spending ways as the PIMP (Plan for Incumbent Member Protection), as most congressional spending bills are basically nothing more than pork bills designed so members of Congress (and governors like Chuckles who embrace them) can get re-elected. In any event Chuckie went down to Ft. Myers, Florida earlier this year and PIMPed with Obama where they hugged and kissed Obama and America’s children got screwed. For that reason alone, I question your judgment and commitment to conservative values for having recently endorsed such a fraud of a candidate in Charlie Crist.

Additionally, you may not be aware of the fact that Too-Tan Charlie has nearly single-handedly wrecked free-market economics with what he has done with the state of homeowners insurance in this state. Florida you see is a peninsula surrounded by warm waters and is frequently hit with hurricanes (which are basically large masses of rapidly spinning air that destroy most things in their paths). Most experts (those are people who know more than you or say, Charlie Crist) say if Florida experiences a strong storm that hits a major metropolitan area, the economic damages will bankrupt the state because of Charlie’s policies and reliance on underfunded “Citizens Property Insurance.”

Furthermore, our state’s economy and local governments are in shambles due in part because of Charlie’s support of a constitutional amendment called Amendment 1. This change to our state’s constitution (that’s the governing document of the state — the U.S. has one, too, and you should read it) has long-term negative economic consequences, which Charlie probably is too dumb (I’m told he failed the State Bar twice) to even be aware of. But his pal Jim Greer knows how to read a poll – and not just the kind of pole found in strip clubs, but that’s a different matter you wouldn’t be aware being from Georgia and all. So anyhow, I reckon ol’ Jimbo has been telling Charlie Boy he shouldn’t want to be governor much longer because he’s really screwed things up and probably doesn’t know how to deal with the consequences when they come to light.

In short, back-slappin’ Charlie has been a terrible governor and would make an even worse U.S. senator — although at least in the Senate he would only be one of 100 and arguably would do far greater damage than as governor. Trouble is, most of the rest of you in Congress don’t show much spine or leadership either, so collectively he would be a bad addition to an already pathetic body.

In closing, Senator, let me remind you that last year in your general election run-off I made a donation of $250 to your campaign (I also raised several thousand dollars on your behalf from friends in the Tampa Bay area). I regret it now. In fact, I hereby request you return my contribution. I will then forward the money to the Marco Rubio campaign, as I believe Mr. Rubio represents the type of leadership, backbone, and conviction our country and my state so desperately need in these challenging times.

My address is on file with your campaign. Send the check there.

Sincerely disappointed in you and 99 percent of the rest of the G.O.P. “leadership,”

Chris Ingram

P.S. If you’re having trouble reading between the lines, my message is this: Butt out! You and your ilk have created the mess we’re in and we don’t need you telling us we need more like you to solve the problems you got us in.

Chris Ingram is president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@411Communications.net.

Rubio does have some interesting facets to his numbers. His campaign indicates he raised $144,000 through online donations, and contributors come from all 50 states. These numbers show a donor base that has clearly not reached its potential to give. Federal law limits campaign donations to $2,400 per person or political action committee for the primary and general elections. So most of Rubio’s supporters could give “again and again and again.”

Of course, if Crist reports $3 million this quarter, Rubio has to spend time asking “again and again and again,” while Crist can work to expand his donor base and reach out to more people.

The real problem

A recent poll indicated that Rubio can compete very well with Crist, polling in a virtual tie with the governor among Republicans who know both of them. But only about 2/5ths of Republicans in Florida have even heard of Rubio. And it will take a lot of money to raise that number substantially.

Florida has ten media markets where Rubio will have to buy advertising, including three of the top 20 in the nation. We are among the most expensive states in the country, and Crist will have enough money at his disposal to swamp Rubio on television.

To further add to Rubio’s problem, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has endorsed Crist, adding most of the national political action committees to Crist’s side of the ledger. Crist, as sitting governor, can also soften Rubio’s very strong base of groups on Tallahassee.

Rubio’s campaign is doing its best to make this sow’s ear look like a silk purse. He needed a strong first quarter and didn’t get it. I don’t think he will quit the race anytime soon, but if he doesn’t reach the $1 million this next quarter, he could be in for a very long, very brutal campaign that may not be good for the Republican Party.

In closing, I want to add that I like Marco Rubio. I personally wish Governor Crist had decided to run for re-election. If Rubio’s fundraising doesn’t improve, I hope he considers switching to run for Attorney General — a race without a strong GOP candidate.

By Dan Sullivan
PoHo contributor

Just when you thought the race to replace outgoing Sen. Mel Martinez couldn’t get any more complicated, a man named Bob Smith threw another wrench into the system last week.

Upon hearing about Smith’s entrance into the race, my immediate reaction was, “Who the heck is this Bob Smith? And what does he think he’s doing poking his nose into one of the most pivotal political battles within the Republican Party for the 2010 election season?”

Of course, Smith isn’t just any candidate. He was a U.S. Senator from 1990-2003, representing the state of New Hampshire. He also ran in the Republican presidential primary in 2000 against the likes of Pat Buchanan and some guy named George W. Bush.

Still, I’d never heard of him.

A few Google searches later, I found I was more familiar with Bob Smith than I realized. Flash back to campaign ‘96. Bob Dole was the man. And Bill Clinton was still brewing a big surprise for the country behind the White House curtains with the help of a young intern.

At that time, I was just a young lad who knew much less about politics and had much less interest in such matters than I do today. I was living in what is affectionately known as the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, which is in close proximity to New Hampshire, where Smith was seeking re-election. Because of said closeness, the local airwaves were saturated with advertisements both attacking and promoting Smith as well as his Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate – Congressman Dick Swett, a man with one of the most unfortunate names in all of politics. Why he didn’t go by “Richard” is beyond me. I vaguely recall the slogan – which was frequently repeated with much enthusiasm by my schoolmates at the time – “America doesn’t need any more Dick Swett.”

You can say that again.

It still astounds me that a man with a name as memorable as Dick Swett could end up losing an election to a guy with a name as forgettable and anonymous-sounding as Bob Smith. But it did happen, albeit by a slim margin.

I wondered, could something similar happen in Florida? What was Smith doing in Florida in the first place?

In order to get some answers to these and other questions, I decided to give Smith a call at his home in Sarasota.

I started with the obvious: why are you running for U.S. Senate? His wordy answer boiled down to his lengthy prior experience – a qualification that he says puts him above his two main Republican contenders, Gov. Charlie Crist and former State House Speaker Marco Rubio.

“I think without a doubt, I’m the best qualified,” he told me. “The governor has not had that kind of experience. Nor has the former speaker of the House. I think I bring the best qualifications and I have a record on the issues for 18 years. I’m just asking the voters to take a look at that record and see if they would consider me to serve here as well.”

He noted Crist’s shift to the middle as a major source of frustration for him, making comparisons to Arlen Specter’s recent team-change and especially chiding Crist for his support of President Obama’s stimulus plan. He repeated a lot of the same rhetoric that many of my conservative friends have been saying since the ‘08 election – that the party needs to return to its conservative principles.

“There’s nothing wrong with the platform of the party,” he said. “It’s the people that are leading it left, like Charlie Crist and others, that are going to cause the collapse of the party.”

Sounds pretty good to this Republican. My biggest beef with Smith, however, came about as our discussion turned to his personal political history.

When Smith ran for president in 2000, he first entered the Republican primary, before dropping out to run as an independent. However, realizing the difficulty this would pose if he wanted to continue his work with Senate Republicans, he withdrew from the presidential race altogether, announced his return to the Republican Party and endorsed Bush for president.

“I knew I was going to risk my political career, but I (left the party) because I was trying to make the point that you’ve got to listen to conservatives,” he said. “I wanted to try to shake up the party people. Not the party itself. The Republican Party platform is what it is. It’s a set of principles and guidelines, which I strongly support. But leadership, some of those party officials, the party bureaucrat types, as well as some of the elected officials, I felt were walking away from those conservative values. And I knew that if they did and they continued to do it, that eventually they were going to take a drubbing in the polls. And eventually they did, as we saw in 2006 and 2008.”

You can’t say he’s not a man without principles. But still, a red flag went up when I learned that Smith had endorsed John Kerry in 2004. When I asked him about it, he dubbed it a “political mistake” that he made out of anger for Bush’s refusal to support him in his 2002 reelection campaign against former Bush Chief of Staff John Sununu, who later defeated Smith.

Smith’s re-election loss ultimately was what led him to retire to Florida, a place where he had vacationed in the past. Now a seven-year resident of Sarasota, he says he doesn’t want to stand by watching what he says is the country’s slow drift toward socialism. If elected, he says he would be the first Senator, in modern history at least, to have been elected from two different states.

But he’s got a long way to go if he plans to distinguish himself from the young and dynamic Marco Rubio, whose articulation of the same conservative message seems to resonate with more Republicans from a wider array of demographics. Not to mention, he would have to overcome the inexplicable monstrosity that is Charlie Crist’s popularity.

But still, stranger things have happened in politics. Just ask Dick Swett.

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor and anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

For weeks, state and national political reporters have been anticipating that the Charlie Crist/Marco Rubio race for the Republican nomination for Senate in Florida next year will be a barn-burning battle between competing philosophies in the party.

That’s despite a poll released last week that shows the governor with an overwhelming lead in the match-up.

And now Rubio doesn’t necessarily have a hold on all those disaffected Republicans who think the Governor is too moderate for their tastes.

Enter Sarasota resident Bob Smith.

He’s not your average disgruntled conservative but in fact a former two-term U.S. Senator from New Hampshire who also (sort of) ran for President.

Smith declared his candidacy officially last week for the nomination last week. Here’s video of his announcement:

In an interview, the 68-year-old Smith, who moved to Sarasota in 2003 after losing to John Sununu in the New Hampshire GOP Senate primary in 2002, said he’s motivated to run by the liberal leanings of Gov. Crist.

“I think Governor Crist wants to take the party in a different direction than I do,” Smith said. “I’m a Reagan Republican, a conservative on the issues.” He then spouted that he’s tough on immigration, pro-gun, pro-life. He knows that’s not Crist’s style, and that bothers Smith.

“We need conservative leadership that will come forth and say these are the principles of our party, and winning simply with an ‘R’ next to you name is not enough, because the victory is shallow.  What’s a victory if you’re Democrat-lite?”

Conservative principles are what animate Bob Smith. In our 15 minute phone conversation, the word ’principles’ was uttered no less than at least half a dozen times.

His disdain for the moderate politics practice by Charlie Crist is not an uncommon feeling among rank and file Republicans, and thus, we also have Rubio’s candidacy.

Rubio is three decades younger than Smith, smoother, and frankly, more telegenic than the former New Hampshire lawmaker. So, other than ego, why does Smith think he has what it takes over the former House Speaker?

Smith talks about style and experience as differentiating himself from his fellow conservative. Style, Smith explains, in the respect that he says Rubio is better at party politics, having maneuvered his way to leadership in the Florida House.

And experience? Well, yeah, Smith has it in spades over Rubio. Two decades in Washington-type experience, which may not necessarily be what Florida GOP voters are clamoring for in 2010.

Last week, in arguing that perhaps Kendrick Meek or another Democrat would be a better choice for Floridians if they’re main issue was property tax or insurance reform, Palm Beach Post editorial writer Jac Wilder VerSteeg wrote:

Gov. Crist promised to lower property taxes and get property insurance premiums under control. So did former House Speaker Marco Rubio. Neither fulfilled his promise. Now the two are running against each other for the 2010 Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Takes some nerve.

Can Smith be the Republican Party recipient of voter disgust? Not if the voting populace doesn’t know who he is.

“Money is very important”, he admits. “ I’d by lying if I said it wasn’t. You need to get your message out.”

But Bob Smith can dream.  And he would no doubt love to get back at those Republicans who he says have lost their way.

“I believe if I were to win this election,” Smith said, “we would send a message to the rest of the country, that we can win on conservative values. “

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.

In case you missed it, Gov. Charlie Crist made a slight step this week that could help in his Senate race. Especially when you add it to a measure from the 2008 session.

This week, Crist signed the 2009-2010 budget for the State of Florida. Florida’s governor has line-item veto power, a tool many governors use to nix budget provisions with which they disagree. This year, Crist vetoed two items: the first veto restored state workers salaries to current levels, undoing the 2 percent pay cut passed by the Legislature.

The second veto, however, was a bit more important to Crist’s political future.

Trust fund raids.

When the Florida Legislature passed the budget, it relied on taking extra funds from Florida’s various trust funds. A trust fund is a separate account that has both a dedicated source of revenue and explicit purpose for which the fund is to be used. A portion of the state’s gasoline tax, for example, go into a trust fund used for road construction. With the revenue from sales tax declining, these extra accounts funded by other taxes or fees were like raiding the kids piggy bank – to much for the Legislature to resist. (It should be noted, this is not the first time trust funds were used to offset revenue shortfalls – and it won’t be the last).

In general, taking excess money from a trust fund is not a bad thing. If the dedicated revenue that comes in from special taxes or user fees is more than is needed to fund the specific purpose, then why not take the extra money?

Ah, but one of those funds was used for the office that processes concealed weapons permits, funded by the fees paid by concealed weapons applicants. The fund has about $8 million, and the Legislature wanted to take $6 million of it. Out of their cold, dead hands said gun owners.

The NRA led the charge to urge the Governor’s veto of this “raid” – and he did. But this was the second act that solidified his bona fides with Second Amendment supporters.

The first act

For several legislative sessions leading up to 2008, various attempts had been made to recognize one of the many legal rights of gun owners – to have a weapon in a personal vehicle. It seems many employers don’t like the idea of some of their employees having a weapon in their car in the parking lot, despite their employees having a concealed weapons permit. So the NRA fought against the Florida Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to pass a bill.

In 2008, the Legislature finally passed the “guns at work” bill. Floridians who have a concealed weapons permit may leave their weapon in their vehicle when they commute to work. This was a difficult battle between two important, usually Republican special interest groups. The NRA finally won… and the Chamber pressed hard for Crist to veto the bill.

He didn’t. He signed the measure into law.

The NRA’s influence

Don’t discount the value of Crist’s actions. To be sure his Republican primary opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, has been a strong advocate for Second Amendment rights. Moreover, he was speaker when the “guns at work” bill passed. But this veto action alone, nevermind the previous bill, was probably enough to secure the NRA endorsement for Crist.

The NRA support will benefit Crist among many more staunchly conservative voters who might have otherwise supported Rubio. The Second Amendment, perhaps as much as any other issue these days, can be a “single issue” for voters — they could disagree with a candidate on many other issues, but if the candidate supports their right to bear arms, voters look past those disagreements.

Crist has been known for sharp political aplomb. He showed it again this week.

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio

When Marco Rubio declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate earlier this month, he said his campaign wasn’t “against anyone or anything.” On the Spanish language Univision Network, however, his tone was as different as the idiom, saying he was interested in combating “the kind of American Socialism that they want to establish in the U.S.”

Last Friday night in Tampa, I asked the former House speaker, who will compete head to head against Gov. Charlie Crist for the nomination to succeed Mel Martinez in the Senate next year, what exactly did he mean by that?

“The tax plan that the President and the Democratic Congress want this country to adopt is one that will distribute wealth”, he began, energized to discuss a favorite topic. ”One in which more than 50 percent of the country won’t pay income taxes, and were a small bracket will pay more than 60 percent of all taxes. That is distribution of wealth. I don’t think that’s the purpose of the tax system … that’s a socialist concept.”

But Rubio was quick to acknowledge that in fact the U.S. in some ways does run such a system already (as in Social Security and Medicare). He just wants to contain it. “What you learn is that once these things are established, they’re almost impossible to reverse, even if we wanted to …. But what I’m saying is, let’s not repeat those mistakes by increasing to expand these programs. This is not an anti-Democratic (Party) thing. I assure you that many Republicans who have expanded government in pursuit of votes and constituencies, and they’ve both been wrong when they’ve done it.”

Rubio was in Tampa to begin what some are calling a quixotic campaign, but others think is (yes, all together now, say it) a battle for the Heart and Soul of the Republican Party.

Over the weekend, political analysts on shows like “Florida This Week” scoffed at Rubio’s chances against the popular Governor, but discontent with Crist runs strong and surprisingly deep throughout the state, for a variety of reasons.

Cynthia Handley is a former chair of the campaigns for all of the Bushes (Jeb’s three gubernatorial campaigns as well as Presidents 41 and 43 Florida primaries and general elections) over the years in Brevard County. She says she’ll be supporting Marco Rubio in the Senate race, and says everywhere she goes, all she hears is criticism of Charlie Crist.” I’m amazed” she said over the phone last week.  “I’m getting a real negative reaction to Charlie Crist when I go to meetings.” After Crist’s embrace of Barack Obama and the economic stimulus package, one Republican in Palm Beach County even called for a censure against the g.

When asked about the ever-ambitious Crist, Rubio seemed pained to express his views, saying blandly that he likes him personally. He admits that in the 2 years they worked together when Rubio was House Speaker “we certainly didn’t agree on a lot.” One issue that Rubio opposes is the governor’s goal to have 20 percent of all the energy produced by the state’s utilities by the year 2020 to come from renewable sources (an idea that died in the Florida House this past session.)

”That proposal is largely full of big government mandates that basically require the government to force power generators today to generate electricity for our homes and business using existing technology … and if you do that, you’re going to do NOTHING, I mean absolutely nothing … there’s nothing Florida can do on its own to impact global climate change or carbon emissions on the planet. But what you WILL do is raise the cost of doing business in the state, and the cost of living here dramatically. This will be a less competitive place to be, a harder place to live at the worst possible time”.

So yes, you can mark him down against the president’s propose cap-and-trade legislation to curb greenhouse gases.

Another obstacle could be the fact that Florida House speakers of late have not lived long and prospered after their service in Tallahassee. Plant City’s Johnny Byrd flamed out famously in his bid for the GOP nomination for Senate in ’04. Orlando’s Tom Feeney enjoyed a few years in Congress but was rejected by the voters last November after stories of political corruption surfaced. And Ray Sansom? Well, let’s just say he’s had his troubles.

And what does Speaker Rubio think of what happened to Speaker Sansom? “It’s unfortunate. Ray Sansom is a friend. I wish none of this would have happened.”

When asked about the fact that several of Samson’s GOP colleagues in the legislature seemed to react more negatively towards the Grand Jury after he was indicted than to Sansom’s behavior, Rubio said he didn’t want to speak too specifically on the charges against Sansom, but acknowledged that he wasn’t ‘a fan’ of putting away money in a budget for specific items. To the extent that there was criticism of a last minute addition to a budget in a conference report, he admitted “there’s come credibility to that criticism, and there’s … some wisdom in changing that process.”

Political reporters in Florida and even across the country are salivating for an intense Primary fight between Rubio and Crist. The State GOP is not. But their heavy-handed tactics of trying to get the party apparatus to support the governor don’t seem to be working.

And that’s a good thing.  Rubio’s conservative brand of Republicanism is definitely a striking contrast to the more moderate tone of Governor Crist.  You can put Rubio in the category with Dick Cheney that there’s no room for any more moderates, saying, “The more the GOP resembles the Democratic Party, the less need there is for a Republican Party.”

He truly believes that the citizenry will reject the Obama/Congressional Democratic plans for the country, and wants to be in Washington fighting against it.

“If the Republican Party wants to grow and succeed, it must become a voice for those folks.  And I’m arguing that we do that.  And I’m arguing that any deviation from that makes us less relevant.  If enough of them agree with me, I’ll be elected.”

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.