 |
Republican Marco Rubio announced today he collected $3.6 million in campaign contributions during the first three months of the year.
It’s a huge amount: it doubles his collections from the fourth quarter of 2009, surpasses the $2 million his U.S. Senate rival, Gov. Charlie Crist collected in the final months of last year and and should well exceed Crist’s 2010 total so far.
From the Marco Rubio campaign this morning:
“I proudly endorse Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate and look forward to working with him in Washington. His genuine principles and proven record are evidence that he will come to Washington and be a consistent advocate for fiscal responsibility, individual liberty and the traditional values that have made America great.” –Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
Here’s the breakdown so far for endorsements from the 41 Republicans in the U.S. Senate:
For Rubio: Coburn; Jim DeMint, S.C; James Inhofe, Okla.
For Charlie Crist: Lamar Alexander, Tenn.; John Cornyn, Texas; Lindsey Graham, S.C.; John McCain, Ariz.; Mitch McConnell, Ky.
Gov. Charlie Crist says he’s scheduling a trip to The Villages (pictured right) as soon as possible after FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace indicated that Marco Rubio may have a problem brewing with some tea party folks there. “At The Villages, they’re not happy with you, sir,” Wallace told Rubio.
“It was a bit surprising to me,” Crist said about that moment in their debate. “Maybe the speaker has miscalculated again as it relates to the electorate.”
Sounds like the problem is Rubio hasn’t responded to some questionnaires, according to the Talking Points Memo.
But Rubio received the message. From the minutes of the Tri-County Tea Party (Villages) meeting on Monday:
[President Pam Dahl] asked for a show of hands from all who had written letters and emails to Fox, and many hands went up in the air. Pam said those letters and emails really were heard and she received a call from Fox News to find out what was going on, and Joe Angione had received a call, too. When Marco Rubio’s campaign manager heard about TCTP sends out messages to over 1,000 people and those communications go out to over 35,000 people, they said they would like to arrange to Marco Rubio to come to one of our meetings to address TCTP in person.
Rubio is already scheduled for a visit to The Villages, when he and U.S. House candidate Allen West are “special guests” April 13 on Sean Hannity’s book tour. (And speaking of tea parties, Rubio is headlining the April 15 Tax Day Tea Party at the 10,000-seat Sun Dome at University of South Florida.)
Gov. Charlie Crist and then-House Speaker Marco Rubio embrace in this 2007 photo from the state archives. The two celebrated the ‘Largest Tax Cut in Florida’s History,’ after a special session devoted to property taxes.
UPDATE: Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos just e-mailed: “After Sunday’s strong performance, Marco looks forward to debating Charlie Crist again, whether it’s in the GOP primary, or in the general election with Crist running as an independent.”
We have yet to hear back after several inquiries to Marco Rubio’s campaign about whether Rubio wants to wait until May for a second debate with Charlie Crist. (AP’s Brendan Farrington tweeted Sunday that Rubio wants to wait until after both candidates officially qualify for the race, which can happen anytime between noon on April 12 and noon on April 30.)
Such a tactic enables Rubio to fan speculation that Crist will either abandon the race or switch his party affiliation. But it’s also a departure from his position in June when Rubio called for about a debate per month before the primary. “One debate is not enough,” Rubio wrote at the time.
Crist, who has repeatedly denied any plans to switch parties, accused Rubio of trying to “run and hide.” Of course, Crist didn’t show much interest in lining up debates before the roles reversed in the race and he was cast as the underdog.
“This is a guy who says he’s willing to stand up to Barack Obama, but he won’t sit down with David Gregory on Meet the Press?” Crist said in an interview, referencing an invite Rubio declined for the NBC show. “The hypocrisy and inconsistency from Marco Rubio is appalling.”
Club For Growth Action released a radio ad today that criticizes Gov. Charlie Crist for his plan to buy U.S. Sugar land in the name of Everglades restoration. Club for Growth PAC has endorsed Crist’s Republican U.S. Senate primary rival, Marco Rubio.
Script of the ad after the jump.
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek’s campaign today filed 145,000 signatures gathered in his year-long petition drive for the U.S. Senate race in November.
Meek, a Miami Democrat, needs about 112,000 of those signatures validated to make it onto the November ballot.
Florida law allows candidates to qualify by petition in lieu of paying $10,000 filing fee to get on the ballot.
If the signatures meet muster, Meek, a former state legislator, would be the first statewide candidate to qualify by petition.
Meek’s candidacy has been eclipsed by the GOP primary battle between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who sparred in a nationally televised debate for the first time on FoxNews yesterday.
(more…)
Minutes from the West Miami Commission dispute Marco Rubio’s claim that he never voted for a tax increase. Also in the minutes:
*Rubio voted at least five times for property tax increases, as defined in 200.065(2)(d) and 200.065(3)(a) of state law, during his two years on the city commission.
*Rubio seconded the motion on four of those five votes.
*Before the final vote on the tax rate, the city manager explained each year to the commission that they were increasing taxes despite keeping the tax rate the same, because property values had increased.
*Rubio also voted at least once to double garbage fees to $250 per residential customer.
Who will win the debate on Sunday?
Total Voters: 138
Loading ...The campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is attempting to set expectations for the debate this Sunday with primary rival Charlie Crist on FOX News Sunday (reminder: that’s 11 a.m. on the local Fox29 affiliate in West Palm Beach, not the cable channel).
In the press release, the campaign listed some “facts about Sunday’s debate.”
It’s Rubio’s first statewide campaign, his first campaign debate ever and his first debate on a nationally televised Sunday show. Meanwhile, Crist is an old pro at these: It’s his fifth statewide campaign and he’s has participated in “numerous” debates.
But a series of old e-mails from the Rubio campaign paint a little different picture of Rubio’s ability.
Health Care for America Now, the liberal activist group affiliated with ACORN and several labor unions, announced a round of television ads today thanking 13 of the 219 Democrats who supported the health care reform bill that passed the U.S. House last night.
In Florida, that means free publicity for Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach and Allen Boyd of Monticello, both
facing tough re-election campaigns this year. The two changed positions after citing a government report showing the plan would cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
Other fallout in Florida today:
From WUSF:
The New York Times story hinted the change was meant to benefit U.S. Sugar and its law firm, where Crist’s ally, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, was a partner.
Alan Farago of the group Friends of the Everglades says Crist abandoned the Bush plan because of science.
“Gov. Bush is quite critical of the U.S. Sugar deal, but in fact, the plan that he advocated and committed a billion dollars to was also based on very, very uncertain technologies and investments,” Farago said. “For instance, the largest man-made reservoir in the world, which is now sitting off U.S. 27 in a state of half-completeness.”
Environmentalists are upset that the story targeted Crist’s ties to U.S. Sugar, but failed to highlight the connections involving Crist’s opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
The WFSU story quotes our blog item pointing out Rubio received more than $14,000 from Florida Crystals, one of the main opponents to the Everglades deal. We updated that number to $24,200 in a blog post yesterday.
Gov. Charlie Crist on Fox News this morning said he’s being thumped in the polls right now by fellow Republican Marco Rubio because “nobody has talked about his record.”
What part of his record is no one talking about?
Marco Rubio is attempting to do just that with this web video released today, just hours before the South Florida Water Management District takes another critical vote on the Charlie Crist-backed plan to buy up U.S. Sugar land in the name of Everglades restoration. Crist has called the deal one of the biggest accomplishments of his term in the governor’s office.
The video compares the Sugar deal to the stimulus package and the cash-for-clunkers program and also cites a Palm Beach Post article pointing out that Crist has received $103,987 from U.S. Sugar executives plus their families, attorneys and lobbyists.
When that same standard is applied to Rubio, however, his campaign received $24,200 from Florida Crystals Corp., Sugar’s rival and one of the loudest critics of the deal. Put another way, 1.15 percent of Crist’s campaign collections so far are from Sugar-related interests, while 0.71 percent of Rubio’s campaign can be traced back to Crystals.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio launched the first television ad of his increasingly hostile primary race with Gov. Charlie Crist.
Rubio uses the 60-second spot, running on Fox News, to cast himself in the role as a thoughtful alternative to President Obama, framing his anti-tax message as the best option for the future of America’s children.
The message seems to be an attempt to get out in front of what Rubio’s pollster expects will be a “relentlessly brutal negative campaign” from Crist.
The Crist campaign reaction:
Video: Crist’s Tuesday morning press availability.
Gov. Charlie Crist says he tossed out the possibility that Marco Rubio used his Florida Republican Party credit card for a back waxing after reading it in the St. Petersburg Times on Sunday. The column, from political editor Adam Smith, speculated on what the $135 charge could have been for after Rubio told Fox News that it wasn’t for a hair cut.
Crist, who is badly trailing Rubio according to a new poll today, said repeating the comment would not risk distracting voters from the fiscal issues he and Rubio are debating.
“It puts a fine point on the issue,” Crist told reporters after the Cabinet meeting this morning. “And the issue is whether or not people can trust the speaker to spend their money wisely. I mean, clearly they can’t.”
Crist also sidestepped a question about whether, in hindsight, he would push as hard for former state GOP chairman Jim Greer. “Remember, Chairman Greer wasn’t chairman when Speaker Rubio had his credit card.”
More nuggets from Crist this morning:
Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s Senate campaign responded to a jab from primary rival Marco Rubio, who called the Everglades land buy a “bailout” for U.S. Sugar: From Crist spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg:
“Marco Rubio is being supported in this campaign and in previous campaigns by Florida Crystals sugar company, who is the number one opponent to this Everglades restoration purchase. What else would you expect from a lobbyist who is bought and paid for by special interests?”
Rubio has received more thank $14,000 from the Fanjuls family, which owns Florida Crystals, and Gaston Gantens, the company’s chief lobbyist. The company and its subsidiaries gave anotehr $4,500 to Rubio during his nine years in the state House.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio said a New York Times story has raised “troubling new questions” about the U.S. Sugar purchase negotiated by his primary rival, Gov. Charlie Crist. From Rubio’s press release today:
“This deal is nothing more than a massive taxpayer-funded bailout for a top Charlie Crist campaign donor and a profitable bonanza for Crist’s inner circle.
“Once again, Charlie Crist has put his political ambition ahead of the people of Florida, and once again the results are disastrous for taxpayers. In fact, this bailout plan is the second most expensive photo op Charlie Crist has ever staged.
“Charlie Crist’s bailout plan will require higher taxes and increased debt, and it does nothing for the Everglades. In fact, it actually halts real restoration projects started by Jeb Bush, which were already underway.
“Charlie Crist simply can’t be trusted to go to Washington to fight massive government spending because, more often than not, he’s the one proposing it.”
Former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who left office last year before finishing out his first term, has joined the board of directors of the state’s second largest utility.
Martinez, 63, was elected to Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy’s board earlier this month.
Progress Energy operates Progress Energy Florida, which provides power to nearly 2 million customers in the Tampa Bay area. State utility regulators recently turned down the utility’s $500 million rate hike request.
Not a bad part-time gig for Martinez. The annual pay for outside directors like him is $80,000 including $30,000 towards a deferred compensation plan, according to the company’s federal SEC filings.
Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 2005, Martinez was the mayor of Orange County and was on the Orlando Utilities Commission. He’s been lobbying as a partner with the law firm DLA Piper since leaving office last year.
Martinez’s early retirement set off a political cascade in Florida and paved the way for Gov. Charlie Crist to take his place.
Crist appointed his own former chief of staff George LeMieux as a place-holder to fill in for Martinez until the November election. Crist is running in a GOP primary for the seat against former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Republican Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate campaign posted this video on Monday in response to Gov. Charlie Crist, his primary rival, telling The Post editorial board that he wouldn’t completely scrap President Obama’s health care reform. Crist, however, also refused to identify any parts of the reform that he would keep.
Senate President Jeff Atwater said he is more than willing to hand over his Republican Party of Florida-issued American Express credit card statements but that the party’s new chairman, Sen. John Thrasher, won’t do it.
Reporters asked Atwater, who is running statewide for chief financial officer, about the notorious AmEx spending that’s embroiled former House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio and former House Speaker Ray Sansom.
“I asked Chairman Thrasher if he would release the statements of the RPOF credit card that was assigned to me and he said no,” Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said. “He said he has his internal process going on…I have asked him and he has said no. That is the party’s card. It is not my card. I do not have the statements.”
When pressed about why Atwater did not request the statements, he insisted he could not.
“I’m not the card. That would be RPOF. It’s RPOF’s card. So if RPOF were to request those statements I assume they could get them. At this point, it is the party’s card. And I have asked the chairman would you release any card statements that were associated with me? I have no qualms about what anyone would see on that and he said no, we’re doing our process.”
Atwater had one of the AmEx cards while he was recruiting Republican Senate candidates and raising money for the party in 2007 and 2008. He says he used the card strictly for party-related business.
The cards, issued to an undisclosed group of top elected Republicans and party officials, have been a continuing source of embarrassment as details have emerged of lavish spending by former Chairman Jim Greer (including that $3,600 meal at Brasserie L’Escalier), indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom (his $173,000 in AmEx charges included a family trip to Europe and an $893 Starbucks tab) and former exec director Delmar Johnson ($133,763 in a single month last summer).
Rubio got his turn in the AmEx spotlight last week when someone, presumably a supporter of opponent Gov. Charlie Crist’s slumping GOP Senate bid, leaked records of Rubio’s $125,000 in charges from 2006 to 2008. No Greer-scale extravagances emerged, but the records showed a $133.75 visit to Churchill’s Barber Shop in Miami that Rubio said he paid himself.
Crist and Rubio take questions after they spoke to the Christian Family Coalition in Miami. Bender/Post
1. No, Gov. Charlie Crist is not giving up his Republican registration. But it’s pretty clear now that he’s decided to promote the independent streak that won him national attention as he built a bipartisan image his first year in office.
2. Speaking of Crist’s first year: With his final State of the State coming on Tuesday, here’s a timely look-back at our coverage of his 2007 speech, when he called for more environmental preservation and a voting paper trail and included a quote from Robert Kennedy:
“For him to get up there and do what he did today, he said: ‘I’m my own man,’ that was a strong message,” said Sen. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, who is not related to the governor. “When he gave his final quote from Robert Kennedy, that was bold, and I watched Speaker Rubio’s face, and I turned to the two House members on either side of me, and I said, ‘Oh-oh.’ “
House Speaker Marco Rubio said Crist’s style has helped improve the tone in Tallahassee. “By far the most optimistic first day of session in the eight I’ve been a part of,” said Rubio, R-West Miami. “I think there is a general tone of cooperation.”
3. By portraying himself as an independent Republican (someone who loves guns, hates taxes and can work across the aisle), Crist is hoping to steal some of the sizzle of Rubio’s image as the anti-establishment candidate. In Broward County, Crist tried to use Rubio’s campaign against him:
Where's the money? Use The Post's interactive database of who wants and who's getting federal dollars.
Use these interactive graphics to find and contact Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast legislators.
House | Senate | Congress
Sentenced to die for crimes judged heinous and cruel, inmates await execution in a 9 feet by 6 feet cell.
Life on Florida's Death Row
See the faces and find the names of Florida's fallen heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
War dead database | Photos
