The National Republican Senatorial Committee is stepping up its efforts to elect Marco Rubio in the Senate, the St. Petersburg Times reports, with the national party group committing the legal maximum of $2.5 million to coordinated advertising with his campaign.
A key reason could be that ex-Republican and now independent Gov. Charlie Crist has a cash-on-hand figure of $8 million to Rubio’s $4.5 million. The paper recognizes the irony of all this –Â the NRSC previously embraced Crist’s candidacy for the Republican nomination and tried to stop Rubio’s rise, right up until Crist bolted the party to run as an independent when the GOP primary polls went insurmountably in Rubio’s direction.
The TPM Poll Average gives Rubio a narrow lead with 35.2%, followed by Crist at 34.7%, and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek at 17.8%.
