Marco Rubio - U.S. Senate - 2010

The Miami Herald
A Real Senate Race
By Michael Putney
Wednesday, 12/2/09

Just a couple of months ago the notion that Crist could be beaten in the primary, much less the general election, was laughable. Except for Rubio, a 38-year-old Cuban-American lawyer from Miami whose political career appeared to have peaked as speaker of the Florida House.

Now, thanks to a lot of hard work, a shrewd strategy and a message that resonates with disgruntled conservatives, Rubio is gaining ground. Crist, by his own admission, is going through a “rough patch.”

The rough patch, of course, is entirely of his own making. It was Crist who went on CNN and told Wolf Blitzer he didn’t “endorse” the president’s economic-stimulus plan. “Heck, I didn’t have a vote on the darned thing.” But Crist, as the whole political world knows, wrote ecstatic letters to the president praising the stimulus and gave Obama a big abrazo in Fort Myers last February.

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[Rubio] speaks without notes, delivering a message at once deeply felt and deeply conservative: He believes in American exceptionalism and says it’s threatened by short-sighted politicians in Washington, most but not all of them Democrats. “The message from Washington is that we must become more like the rest of the world,” Rubio said. “I believe we need to send people to Washington who will stand up to that agenda.”

Rubio’s world view

Rubio’s stump speech is complex and nuanced, replete with historical and political references. It’s an amazingly coherent world view for such a relatively young man. And while it’s undeniably conservative, on the night I heard him he did not mention guns, abortion or “family values.” Not at least in that language. If Charlie Crist speaks in political short-hand, Rubio speaks in long-hand, aided and abetted by postings on Facebook and Twitter.

He is making converts among Florida conservatives who voted for Crist, but are disappointed with his job performance. One of them, Patricia Chandler of Coconut Creek, told me that she thinks Crist is really a Democrat in Republican clothing. “I voted for him,” she said, “but I’m voting for Rubio in the primary.”

Crist and his campaign team need to reconnect with her and other disgruntled Republicans. To stop spending all their time raising money and get out on the hustings like Rubio. The governor also needs to spend more time governing. And take a firm stand on some tough issues. His current strategy isn’t working. The guy once deemed unbeatable is looking a little vulnerable — to the guy who had no chance at all. Now, he does.

Read the full article: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1360987.html