Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, the insurgent conservative Republican candidate for Senate in the GOP primary against moderate Gov. Charlie Crist, has issued his demands to Crist regarding the new Senate vacancy:
“As Governor Crist considers who he will appoint as Florida’s next U.S. senator, I urge him to take great care in his selection. Florida deserves an interim senator who will go to Washington and serve as a true check on President Obama’s push for more wasteful government spending, government-run health care and cap-and-trade. The last thing Florida needs is a U.S. senator that will stand with President Obama instead of challenging the wrong direction he is leading our country and offering constructive conservative solutions moving forward.
This has a bunch of between-the-lines messages. “Interim senator” means Crist shouldn’t appoint himself. The call for a conservative is basically a jab against Crist’s moderation and support for the stimulus bill — meaning that Crist shouldn’t appoint himself, nor appoint someone who is any bit like him.
So even with this event, Rubio is playing up the contrasts.
Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty reports that a rumored potential pick is former one-term Gov. Bob Martinez (no relation) — a hardline conservative who is perhaps best known for his role in the late 1980’s in the arrests of the rap group 2 Live Crew, and of record store owners who sold their albums.
