11 county Republican straw polls — 11 wins for Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist.

But this one was different.

The fact that Crist lost in Pinellas County, which he represented in the state Senate and where he’s lived nearly all his life, can’t be a good sign for Crist.

This is another in a string of positive events for Marco Rubio. Nearly unknown and trailing significantly in the polls just a year ago, Rubio’s conservative message has energized party faithful and impressed those less politically aware.

One common, if anecdotal, theme is that Rubio stands out because of his beliefs, but also because of how genuine he appears to be.

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio is going to be the keynote speaker at CPAC.

CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale made the announcement on the conference’s Twitter feed.

“We chose Rubio because he is an upcoming leader. He is someone that a lot of people are excited about,” De Pasquale told POLITICO. “His name keeps getting brought up and we decided that he would be a good keynote for 2010.”

He is an excellent choice. As Allahpundit said at Hot Air:

It’s an easy pick because there’s no pol in America aside from Sarahcuda whom the base is more excited about, and he needs this exposure a lot more than she does. It’s essentially a huge, free advertisement for his Senate campaign with all the earned media that goes along with that. And of course it’s a great advertisement for conservatives too: He’s young, charismatic, and a minority, which makes him almost the polar opposite of the standard media caricature of right-wingers.

My guess is that the crowd at CPAC is going to love this choice. He is extremely popular with party activist, going 12-0 in straw polls, winning most by huge margins.

The race between Rubio and Crist is being touted as an indicator of conservative sentiment and power. CPAC may give Rubio the name recognition he needs, and then the real test can begin.

Senate candidates Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio appeared at the Alachua County Republican Party’s 7th Annual Ronald Reagan Black Tie and Blue Jeans BBQ. Laura Ingraham was the keynote speaker.

Rubio gave the event’s invocation, but first made comments along his campaign theme of being the race’s true conservative.

“It’s very simple: We already have a Democratic Party in America,” he said. “We do not need two Democratic parties in America.”

Crist gave a speech running through a long list of positions to prove his conservative bona fides, from support of gun rights to tax cuts. But he received a less enthusiastic greeting than Rubio from the grassroots activists in attendance, even getting a small smattering of boos.

This scenario, minus the candidates, has been playing out at county events all summer. Rubio’s support, at least as indicated in straw polls held among party activists, has been outstanding. On possible reaction to the NY-23 special election may be for the NRSC to stay out of this critical primary.

One can only hope.

My Rep., Adam Putnam (FL-12), is holding a Town Hall meeting about an hour from now. I’ll be there. What question should I ask, if I get the chance? Send it (quick) to lakelandjim at gmail dot com.

The meeting is at the Bartow Civic Center, 2250 S. Floral Avenue, Bartow, Fl.

See you there?

Larry Thornberry writes about the Florida U.S. Senate primary between Governor Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio saying, “Marco Gets It.” He had the opportunity to sit down with Rubio. Here’s a taste:

His answers to my questions give a feel for what kind of a conservative he is.

Larry Thornberry – The American Spectator: Why do you think your campaign is increasingly successful, both in collecting money and in better poll numbers?

Rubio: I think it’s because my candidacy offers Floridians the opportunity to decide that we don’t want to be the party of cap and trade, that we don’t want to be the party of stimulus, that in fact we want to send people to Washington who will stand up to the direction this administration is taking our country and offer a clear alternative. We already have a Democratic Party. We doesn’t need two Democratic parties.

The base is enthusiastic about our candidacy. An authentic center-right message, an authentic limited-government message is where the mainstream of American politics is. The extremists in American politics are the ones who want government to take over our economy. The extremists are the ones who want government to dictate energy policy. The extremists are the ones who want America to become more like the rest of the world and less like the exceptional country that we know and love. Those are the ones who are out of touch with everyday Americans. Those of us who believe government shouldn’t spend money it doesn’t have, who believe the government shouldn’t become so involved in the economy that it becomes impossible to open a business in the spare bedroom of your home, we’re in the mainstream of American thought.

Do read the whole post. The Rubio campaign website is here. You can follow @MarcoRubio on Twitter.

Conservative candidate Marco Rubio, running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez, has won another GOP Straw poll.

As expected, Marco Rubio has won another county Republican Party straw poll by a huge margin over Gov. Charlie Crist—this one in Palm Beach County by 90-17 — leaving Republicans and others to continue to debate over whether such votes matter.

While it may be primarily party insiders who are voting in these straw polls, we can hope that Rubio’s conservative message continues to reach the voters who will be making their choice in the upcoming primary.

You can follow @MarcoRubio on Twitter.

Govenor Charlie Crist has made his choice to replace Senator Mel Martinez, who is resigning.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced Friday he will appoint George LeMieux, his former chief of staff, to succeed Sen. Mel Martinez after the Republican incumbent resigns his seat in early September.

LeMieux, who ran Crist’s successful 2006 campaign for governor, currently serves as the chairman of the law firm Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, which has offices in major cities across Florida.

I don’t know anything about LeMieux, but I’ll be looking. If you know anything about the appointee, please leave a comment.

I hope, and will be working to ensure, that Marco Rubio will be replacing LeMieux in 2010. You can follow @MarcoRubio on Twitter. For anyone in the Lakeland area of Central Florida, Rubio will be speaking at a luncheon in Lakeland on September 2nd. I will be there. Will you?

UPDATE: LeMieux is reported to have remarked that he, “is a Charlie Crist Republican” following the announcement of his appointment. Well that’s not good news.

UPDATE II: Rubio calls the choice “disappointing.”

“This is a disappointing pick for Florida. George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor’s best friend, but that doesn’t make him the right choice to represent Florida in the Senate. Governor Crist had a wealth of consistent and principled conservative candidates to choose from, all of whom would have been a reliable check and balance on the excesses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.”

Sphere: Related Content

It’s a trend that has been repeating itself, in spite of the “official” position of the state party. Senate candidate Marco Rubio has been winning county REC straw polls by impressive margins. The latest was in Bay County.

Mirroring the sentiment established by Republican Executive Committees statewide, the Bay County REC overwhelmingly gave their informal support to Marco Rubio in his bid to replace U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez during a straw poll at their Monday meeting.

Rubio got 23 votes; Gov. Charlie Crist received two votes, and two members voted for none of the above. Despite having the formal endorsement of the Republican Party of Florida, Crist has not faired well in REC straw polls statewide, a possible indication that he has not won over the party faithful.

In one of the most recent straw polls, for instance, Highland County’s REC voted 75 to one in favor of Rubio.

I need to roundup all the REC straw poll votes I can find. If you know of any results, please let me know in the comments.

You can follow Marco Rubio on Twitter.

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has announced that he is supporting Marco Rubio in the race to replace Mel Martinez.

For months now, Republicans have been looking around, asking everyone they meet who our next leaders will be. And somehow, inexplicably, many of us have grown blind to the diamonds all around us. There are already many young, conservative leaders ready to fight for freedom in Washington and in state capitals all around the country. But we’ll never find them if we only look for well-known politicians or choose our party’s direction based on the latest polls instead of timeless principles.

Rubio is the son of Cuban exiles, who fled to the United States in the late 1950s without a dollar in their pocket. He tells inspiring stories about the neighborhoods where he grew up, and how America empowered his family to make a life for themselves. Rubio did rise: to college and law school, to the City Commission in West Miami to the legislature, all the way to the speaker’s chair. From each of these positions, Rubio has championed a positive, principled, conservative agenda as the best way to create jobs and opportunities. He is living the American Dream, and understands how much he owes to our Founders and their principles of personal liberty and limited government. He wants to serve because he wants to protect those principles – when Marco Rubio swears an oath to our constitution, he’s one of those politicians who will actually mean it.

Everywhere he has gone, Rubio has stood up to liberal ideas and interest groups, and stood up for freedom. He has taken on daunting issues – from a statewide education curriculum to energy reform – and succeeded in persuading independents and Democrats that his ideas – innovative, conservative solutions – make for the best answers to our biggest challenges.

He is exactly the kind of Senator Florida needs, and exactly the kind of leader our party is looking for: a conservative’s conservative with a record of success in a swing state, a self-made first generation American, a dynamic Republican spokesman in two languages, a young husband and father himself dealing with the same problems middle class families like his face every day.

Too many in the GOP leadership have fallen into the trap of thinking that becoming “Democrat-lite” is the way to go. They are wrong. Luke warm Republicanism is no substitute for clear convictions and conservative values. We can compromise on plans and programs, but we can not compromise our values. We must avoid faulty thinking that confuses the two.

Marc Rubio is someone who appears to understand that difference. Programs change, principles do not. That is the kind of thinking we need to rebuild our party and move our country forward.

There is no question Marco Rubio will be a big part of the Republican Party’s future, but I believe if we are to defeat the forces of Big Government now controlling Washington, Marco Rubio needs to be a big part of the Republican Party’s present. He has the skills and ideas we need to rebuild our party, reform our government, and renew our nation.

I urge those of you in Florida to do whatever you can to help Marco Rubio in his run for the Senate. It is going to be a tough battle where he will be fighting against name recognition, fund raising, and even the party leadership. But it is a fight that needs to be made, and a fight that can be won.

Visit the Marco Rubio campaign website and follow @MarcoRubio on twitter.

100 Post Marathon #2

This needs to be seen by all Florida Republicans who will be voting in the primary for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez.

Note: The donation button below is not a solicitation for Marco Rubio but for the 100 post marathon here at bRight&Early. If you want to donate to the Rubio campaign go to his web site: MarcoRubio.com

If you can…

Florida Governor Charlie Crist is expected to announce that he will be running for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez. According to a Politico article,

But while Crist is a brand-name recruit with sky-high approval ratings and bipartisan appeal, his path to keeping the seat of retiring Sen. Mel Martinez in GOP hands has at least one significant roadblock: Sunshine State conservatives.

Despite Crist’s widespread popularity, he faces a primary in which he will have to make his case to a restless GOP base dissatisfied with his high-profile advocacy for President Barack Obama’s stimulus and his handling of the state’s budget woes.

I have to admit that I voted for Governor Crist. I’ve been less than pleased by the results. His “moderate” stances on a myriad of issues are quite disappointing and they are not what a revitalized GOP needs.

Crist will be facing conservative opposition in the primary. Former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio has announced his run:

(h/t Gordon Cafe/@conservateacher)

More from Politico:

Florida GOP operatives believe that Rubio has the potential to be a formidable opponent, if he can raise the millions of dollars necessary to compete against a governor with a wide fundraising network in Tallahassee.They acknowledge that knocking Crist off would be very difficult, with public polls showing the governor with approval ratings in the mid-60s and support from Democrats and independents that most Republicans can only dream of.

But they also point to a growing undercurrent of mainstream conservative dissatisfaction, beginning with Crist’s decision to appear at a February rally alongside Obama to raise support for the stimulus. Over the past several months, The Wall Street Journal editorial page has railed against Crist over his plans to control property insurance premiums and his support for higher government spending.

“Crist doesn’t represent a right-wing philosophy or a left-wing philosophy. He represents no philosophy,” said Ana Navarro, a leading GOP fundraiser in Florida who has been one of Crist’s most outspoken Republican critics.

It is going to be an interesting primary. I am sure both the primary and the general election are going to attract national attention. And national money. The Dems would love to pick up this seat. Barring that they would love to see another Dem Lite Republican holding the office. That’s not what we need. It is time to stand on conservative principles. The GOP primary is going to be a battle.

I think they are some of the dumbest ads on TV, and that’s a low bar to get under. You know the ones I’m talking about, where two Coke Zero “execs” are in what is made to look like a hidden camera type scene asking someone if they can sue Coke for taste infringement.

Florida Democrats have taken that concept and applied it to the 2008 primaries by suing the national party.

Congressional Democrats from Florida sued their own party Thursday, hoping to restore the national convention delegates stripped from the state because it scheduled an early presidential primary.

The party violated the Constitution and federal voting laws by taking away Florida Democrats’ ability to have a say in choosing the presidential nominee, says the lawsuit filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings against the Democratic National Committee and Chairman Howard Dean.

The national party’s rules committee voted to take away Florida’s 210 delegates after the state party chose to go along with a Jan. 29 primary. That date was set by Florida’s Republican-led Legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.

Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primary contests before Feb. 5, except for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

While it is currently the Dems playing out this scene, the entire structure of the primary system needs to be examined. In a piece I wrote at Pajama’s Media in September I said,

Fifty dancers on the stage and every one of them wants to be Lord of The Dance.

[...]

Each state hopes that being first will translate into prestige, power, and national influence. And money.

I’ll admit that I don’t have an answer. What I do know is that no state will easily cede their place at the head of the line. If they all continue to play leap frog then the 2012 campaign season will be starting even earlier than the current marathon.

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