Monday, April 5, 2010

Rubio v. Crist
A conservative versus a popular politician


Why the most interesting race in all of the 2010 elections the Republican primary fight between Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio and Governor Charlie Crist? Simple, everyone loves Charlie Crist!

This is not an exaggeration. The few times I have met Mr. Crist; he has always greeted me by my first name and always asks a question relevant to something we spoke about the last time. The man has no boundaries on his intelligence, his likeability is beyond measure, and he knows how to speak to anyone—even people who don’t like him, like him.

In Florida’s Republican primary, Crist is getting some stiff competition from Rubio (currently he is down 11 points in the latest Mason-Dixon poll). Crist is perhaps the most popular politician of all time in the Sunshine State. Before being elected governor, Crist held a state senate seat, was the Education Commissioner and Attorney General for Florida—in each office his approval numbers stayed high.

So why is the popular man of the people losing in a primary? There is one simple answer: a presidential hug.

After passing his stimulus package in early 2009, Crist surfed on President Obama’s long coattails. At the time, it was considered a shrewd political move, showing Crist to put policy before party. But the party went a decidedly different direction as the policy went nowhere.

As with Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, independents, conservatives, and republicans of all stripes are gravitating to the conservative candidate who is running against a liberal president. Rubio has had marked success in linking Crist to Obama—the death knell in the coffins of three other candidates.


-- Owen E. Richason IV
Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick


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