Gasp! Rubio Fundraises Outside of Florida!

Politico has a breathless report that Rubio confirmed, confirmed, that he would be traveling to South Carolina for a fundraiser.

Umm. No shit. Biggest "duh" ever:

Republican Marco Rubio gave Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate campaign some easy ammunition, confirming a report from CNN's Peter Hamby that the former Florida House speaker plans to travel to South Carolina next month to raise funds there with Sen. Jim DeMint. Rubio and DeMint have established a joint committee, "Friends of DeMint and Rubio," to collect money in tandem. "Marco has been honored by Sen. DeMint's support and welcomes his assistance in raising the resources needed to communicate his limited government message throughout Florida," campaign spokesman Alex Burgos wrote in an email.

Coming off his star turn at CPAC last week, Rubio's plans to visit an early presidential primary state don't look good. "Anything such as this which lends appearance that Marco is already looking past not only the August primary, but the November election, is not a good place for him to be politically," a Republican strategist told Morning Score. "Oftentimes some forget that while Jim DeMint may have a small universe of followers who read RedState, the reality is that the vast majority of Americans, including in Florida, don't have the slightest idea who Jim DeMint is."

Senate and congressional candidates fundraising outside of their own states happens all the time these days. Politico now pretending that this "doesn't look good" seems like wishful thinking on the part of Democrats and that one out-of-work political consultant they interviewed.

In fact, it's great because it means that Republicans are looking at the big picture. They want to take back Congress and keep Senate seats out of the hands of Democrats and some squishy Republicans, like Crist.

I have another scoop for Politico: Rubio's coming to California this week for some fundraisers too. Is this the end of the world as we know it!?!

Meanwhile, Crist's staffers are jumping ship as fast as they can find other things to do.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:23 AM

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