Florida Senate Primary

With NY-23rd as the Bunker Hill for tea-party conservatives. The hard-core base of the republican party is soon going to go after more moderate candidates. One of them will be current Gov. of Florida Charlie Crist who is running for the Senate. He is currently facing a primary challenge from Marco Rubio. This is a very interesting for many different reasons. Crist is a very strong candidate, has vastly out-raised Rubio and is much more well known around the state. However, Marco Rubio is young, charismatic, latino, and has won straw poll after straw poll. He reminds me very much of Barack Obama and that right now is giving me great pause in dismissing him as a legitimate threat.

Marco Rubio's been getting the best of the news media recently and he desperately needs it. TPMMuckraker: Crist Denies Close Ties, But Accused Fraudster Was A Friend Who Even Sponsored Crist's Birthday Cake.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's assertion that accused fraudster attorney Scott Rothstein was nothing more than another campaign supporter is starting to look even thinner.

A Florida source familiar with the situation tells TPMmuckraker that Rothstein often bragged about his closeness to Crist, now a candidate for US Senate. The source says Rothstein once remarked: "It's one thing when you've got the governor on speed dial. It's another thing when the governor has you on speed dial."

"They were friends," the source tells us. "To say anything else is ridiculous."

Crist said Wednesday: "Well, he had supported me like he did to many others. ... And that's about the extent of it."

Charlie Crist(REP.FL.SENATE2010.CRIST) has recently traded at 59% while Marco Rubio (REP.FL.SENATE2010.RUBIO) has traded at 40%.