Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), the frontrunner for the 2010 Senate race in his state, raised $2.4 million in the third quarter, and has $6.2 million on hand.
It is not immediately known how much of the money can be used in the Republican primary, where Crist faces a challenge from the more conservative former state House Speaker Marco Rubio. Rubio has raised much less money, taking in only about $1 million in this past quarter and $350,00 in the quarter before that. His campaign has said that nearly all the money is for the primary, but it’s probably still much lower than Crist’s primary funds.
Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Burgos responded to the numbers in a statement to TPM: “Money can’t wipe away Charlie Crist’s record of support for wasteful stimulus spending, historic tax increases and cap-and-trade. We’re going to make sure he spends every last cent trying.”
(Additional reporting by Evan McMorris-Santoro.)
