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Crist wants debates with “all” GOP Senate candidates “at the appropriate time”

by George Bennett | November 18th, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist’s U.S. Senate campaign has responded to former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio’s request for 10 debates in their Republican primary campaign:

“Gov. Crist looks forward to debating all of his primary opponents at the appropriate time, but he still has an important job to do, as the Governor of Florida. After preparing for the legislative session and a possible special session on SunRail, he hopes for an agreement on a suitable amount and possible dates to debate.”

Note that Rubio isn’t mentioned by name, but lumped in with the rest of the GOP field. While there’s no telling who will actually qualify for the ballot next year, the Florida Division of Elections lists eight Republicans currently running for the Senate seat: Crist, Rubio, Shawn Teeters, Belinda Noah, Bob Coggins, Gwyn McClellan, Marion Thorpe and former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith.

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4 Responses to “Crist wants debates with “all” GOP Senate candidates “at the appropriate time””

  1. Florida Cracker Says:

    With Rubio ducking debates he is in no position to critize who will and who won’t debate. Don’t forget about Rubios debate w/Smith,all set up,everybody waiting,no calls,not able to even get in touch with Rubio,excuses flow from the MC!
    Rubio didn’t even have the courtesy to call and cancel in person!!! Event organizers had to call Rubios handlers to find out he wasn’t coming hours after it was to begin.
    Crist may make some mad for his embracing of the stimulus money and the man delivering it.If you look at how much $$$ we missed out on so we could call ourselves good obstructionist on unemployment funds.
    Don’t forget the speech that cost us $440 million,”UNEMPLOYMENT IS A HANDOUT” (adam hasner)!!! Way to go with the extremism,wonder how they will spin all that money we didn’t get,,,
    wait,the money could have been tainted by the devil (Obama),or maybe concerns about taking the millions of stimulus $$$ could cause cancer in children!

  2. Kirk Says:

    Rubio is a hypocrite here. The guy was supposed to debate Bob Smith and bailed out a few moments before the event. Now I understand why Rubio does not want to debate a candidate who is still an asterisk in the polls. But why the hell did Rubio agree to it in the first place and why did he not pull out days before instead of minutes before? I am increasingly uncomfortable with Rubio-like he is only talking up the conservative line since Crist has given him so much room to the right. It’s increasingly coming off as a move of tactics, not of principles. Sadly Rubio has given Smith new life (while I’m not a fan of Smith, I have to say he has been working the grass roots hard this month and I think it helps him). Another Cuban “conservative” from Miami? Como se dice Mel Martinez part dos? He can talk the talk all he wants but Rubio will be a tough sell north of I4, “the tropic of cracker” and Smith, for all his flaws and plain weird history, has a military background and might do well in Jax and Pensacola. I like Rubio but he is starting to fumble a bit and letting Smith in the game. If Smith could actually raise money, we might be in trouble.

  3. James Says:

    Judging from the first two repsonses it Looks like the Crist campaign (aka the Republican Party of florida) has hired a team of Bloggers.

  4. Karl Dickey Says:

    Why haven’t we heard a mention/listing of the Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate, Alexander Snitker?

    C’mon, we should be listing all announced candidates, not just the two old party candidates.

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