PPP Poll: Crist, Fork, Some Assembly Required

Remember when Marco Rubio was considered something of a joke candidate for the GOP Senate nomination in Florida? You know, there was no way he could seriously challenge a popular governor like Chrarlie Crist, so what was the point in him even running?

Yeah, about that.

Support for Charlie Crist from conservative voters has pretty much evaporated, and that's allowed Marco Rubio to build a 32 point lead in the Republican primary for Senate.

Rubio now leads Crist 60-28, including a staggering 71-17 lead with conservatives. Crist has a 49-36 advantage with party moderates, but they account for just 31% of likely primary voters compared to 65% who describe themselves as conservative.

Rubio is benefiting from a widely held sentiment among Florida GOP voters that Congressional Republicans are too liberal and that Crist would add to the problem. 41% of them think that the party leadership in Washington is too liberal, and with those folks Rubio holds an 83-10 lead. 50% think that Crist himself is too liberal and with those voters Rubio's advantage expands even wider to 90-5.

But don't worry, Crist has a new and exciting line of attack that will wash away the stink of his support for the so-called "stimulus"...Back hair.

CRIST: He's (Rubio) trying to pawn himself off as a fiscal conservative. And yet just in reason weeks, two weeks Hairy-back ago it has come out in news accounts he had a Republican Party of Florida credit card that he charged $130 haircut, or maybe it was a back wax -- we are not sure what all he got at that place.

VAN SUSTEREN: Wait a second, stop. A back wax? Wait a second.

CRIST: I don't know what it was, you know?

Ah, well never mind then. If you stand foursquare against back hair (and all right thinking Americans do), then Charlie Crist is your man!

Meanwhile, John Cornyn is trying to dig himself out of the hole he put himself in with his early endorsement of Crist.

“Selfishly, given the limited resources we have on the national scope of our responsibilities here, I didn’t want to have to spend any money in Florida, if we didn’t have to,” Cornyn said. “Charlie Crist seemed like the ideal candidate. This had nothing to do with Marco Rubio, who I subsequently met and have a lot of respect for.”

Cornyn said his committee planned to stand by its endorsement of Crist, but noted the NRSC would refrain from meddling in the governor's primary campaign against former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to be spending any money in the primary. It doesn’t mean we’re going to be saying anything bad about Marco Rubio,” he said.

I can't wait for David Frum to tell us why this is all just a horrible thing or urge Crist to withdraw from the GOP contest and save "conservatism" by running as an independent or Democrat.

posted by DrewM. at 11:02 AM

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