Gov. Charlie Crist announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate this morning, becoming the first Florida governor in decades to decline a re-election bid for a shot at moving to Washington, D.C.
Crist, 52, told reporters in a Capitol news conference that the "challenges that Florida faces are not just Florida challenges. They're national challenges." "And as a result of that, I believe I can best serve the people of Florida, if they're willing to allow me, as their next United States senator," said Crist.
Despite Crist’s widespread popularity, he faces a primary in which he will have to make his case to a restless GOP base dissatisfied with his high-profile advocacy for President Barack Obama’s stimulus and his handling of the state’s budget woes.
And he will be facing a vigorous fight from former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a young, outspoken Hispanic conservative who is capturing the attention of activists in Florida and across the country.
Rubio began telegraphing his attacks against Crist even before the governor’s formal announcement. In an interview with POLITICO, he singled out Crist for abandoning conservative principles and compared the governor to moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
“If we’re offering the same thing as the Democrats, but with different packaging, what’s the point in having a Republican Party?” Rubio said.“I’m going to offer Floridians a clear, consistent, authentic small-government choice in the primary.”
Florida GOP operatives believe that Rubio has the potential to be a formidable opponent, if he can raise the millions of dollars necessary to compete against a governor with a wide fundraising network in Tallahassee.They acknowledge that knocking Crist off would be very difficult, with public polls showing the governor with approval ratings in the mid-60s and support from Democrats and independents that most Republicans can only dream of
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