Charlie Crist has a new attack ad in the Florida Republican Senate primary, which will be held on August 24, attempting to tie his rival Marco Rubio to a state-level scandal involving Rubio’s successor as state House Speaker, the now-indicted state Rep. Ray Sansom.
“Rubio was Speaker, ‘Sansom was Rubio’s handpicked budget chief.’ The ultimate insiders,” the announcer says. “Both steered millions of taxpayer money into two colleges — then received cushy jobs from the colleges.
“The scandal unfolds. Sansom indicted, Rubio subpoenaed. Marco Rubio — it’s not just what we know, it’s what we don’t know … yet.”
Crist began this race with what seemed like an insurmountable lead. However, Rubio has been able to mobilize support based on his own hard-line conservative image, and on opposition to Crist due to the governor’s support for President Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill. The TPM Poll Average gives Rubio a lead of 59.1%-27.4%, the mirror image of similar leads for Crist last year.
Late Update: Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos released this statement:
“It’s sad that Charlie Crist’s political fortunes have fallen so far that he is willing to do and say anything to try to win this election. Only a candidate on his last gasp of desperation would run an ad so false and so over the top against a fellow Republican. Let’s be clear what this ad is really about. Charlie Crist is trying to cover up his strong support for the stimulus, higher taxes, cap-and-trade and liberal judges.
“Charlie Crist is spending more than a million dollars on TV, every penny of it is negative, and he has yet to offer a single positive idea about what he would do in the U.S. Senate. He is doing a disservice to every Republican who wants a strong and united party committed to victory in November. But given that Charlie Crist may soon be leaving the Republican Party, he probably doesn’t care much about that anymore.”
