Charlie Crist Marco Rubio: Marco Rubio is Charlie Crist Challenger

Marco Rubio is challenging Charlie Crist for a Republican seat from Florida in the U.S. Senate. Crist is the sitting governor of Florida. Rubio is a former speaker in the Florida House of Representatives. The GOP endorsed Governor Crist months ago, although Crist has had an embarassing love affair with Barack Obama and his administration. See video below.

Marco Rubio

The Miami Herald reported this week that Rubio has cut Crist's lead in the Senate race by half. That's encouraging news because Marco Rubio is actually a conservative Republican. 

Crist, who surpassed Rubio by 29 points in an August survey, now leads 50-35 percent in the Republican contest for Florida's open Senate seat, according to a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,078 Florida voters released Wednesday.

``The fact that Crist has fallen below 50 percent in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability,'' concluded the Rasmussen poll.

Since Quinnipiac's last poll in August, Crist has fallen 5 percentage points and Rubio has gained 9 percentage points.

Another encouraging sign for Rubio: Forty-four percent of Republicans view him favorably, compared with only 3 percent who have an unfavorable view...Brown says Rubio's numbers are ``phenomenal'' since only Republicans can vote in the primary.

About 63 percent of Republicans view Crist favorably, and 30 percent have an unfavorable view. But only 5 percent of Republicans say they haven't heard enough about Crist, while 64 percent say they haven't heard enough about Rubio.

While the GOP stubbornly funds Crist, Rubio is reminding Republicans of Crist's appearance with Barack Obama, and worse, his enthusiastic support of the $787 billion federal stimulus package, and a committed support of climate-change legislation.

Rubio has gained ground by combining social-networking tools -- like Facebook and Twitter -- with old-fashioned retail politics, trekking to Republican clubs and civic groups throughout the state to make his case. He's picked up his fundraising pace, earned glowing praise in conservative media, and bested Crist in roughly a dozen nonbinding straw polls at local Republican club meetings from Monroe to Hillsborough counties.

 Hero Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) endorsed Marco Rubio:

I enthusiastically support Marco Rubio in his campaign for U.S. Senate. Marco is exactly the type of conservative leader Americans need in Washington today fighting for the principles of limited government, individual liberty and personal responsibility.
“Like me, Marco believes that the federal government works best when it returns dollars, decisions and freedom to our local communities and families. In the Senate, Marco will stand up for America’s taxpayers, not with President Obama and dangerous big government spending,” he added.

 Dr. Richard Swier, writing for Red County, calls Crist a "cap and trader," and an "Enviro-Statist," and says the State of Florida will "pay a dear price in jobs, taxes and increased [energy costs] if Cap and Trade passes into law.

In May 2009, The Mike Thomas Blog said that much of Rubio's success in this Senate race depends on Jeb Bush's support.

Bush has no love for Crist, and has preached against the evils of Republicans turning to a ‘Democrat Lite’’ strategy to get elected. Crist is the poster child for Democratic Lite. In fact, I’m hard pressed to find much positive Bush has said about Crist since Crist was elected.

A former Republican governor turning against a sitting governor would be a surprise and, probably a shock, but it should not be. We need some honest backing of conservatives. Contrary to business as usual, the good ole boy networking must end.

Also in May of last year, there was a flurry of interest when Jeb Bush did endorse Marco Rubio, but that Jeb Bus is the son of former governor Jeb Bush.

Thomas puts it this way:

One might argue that if Bush feels strongly enough about the direction of the party, he should put some skin in the game and publicly back Rubio. That would open a lot of donor doors and redefine Rubio’s chances from none to slim. If Rubio showed a spark of life here, it actually could open up a floodgate of disgruntled conservatives, unhappy with Crist’s direction.

The National Review Online interviewed Marco Rubio this past summer and said Rubio considers Jeb Bush The Governor his mentor. NRO quotes Bush criticizing the Republican Senatorial committee for endorsing Crist at such an early date:

“I think [Rubio] should be given a chance. I think that the idea that the national party would pick a winner a year and a half before an election is the wrong way to go.”

Marco Rubio is 38-years-old. He was born in Miamia, FL, lived in Las Vegas, NV for about 6 years from the age of 8. He attended South Miami Senior High School and graduated in 1989. He graduated University of Florida with a B.S and received his J.D. Cum Laude from the University of Miami in 1996. He and his wife, Jeanette have 4 children.










Marco Rubio is Charlie Crist Challenger (video)