Crist Stumbles on Healthcare

Over the last couple months, the Florida Senate race has been a battle of messages between Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio. Both have been very effective and thus the race has been tight with each having their share of polls showing them leading.

Rubio has continued to ride his message of American exceptionalism, small government and free markets. Meanwhile, Charlie Crist has ridden a message of the independent politician not beholden to either party.

Both would have been perfectly happy staying on this message until November. Recently, however, Governor Crist has stumbled in trying to explain his position on Obamacare.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) is walking back comments he made in an interview earlier today about the recently enacted healthcare law.

Crist is mounting an independent bid for Senate against Republican Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek.

Crist told a local TV station Friday that he would have voted in favor of President Obama's healthcare proposal were he in the Senate. That was a reversal of his previous position against the healthcare law.

"I would have voted for it," Crist said in the interview. "But I think it can be done better, I really do."

Crist has said just about everything on Obamacare recently. He's said he would have voted for it and against it. He's said he'd repeal it and he'd just improve it. He's been taken totally off message. Meanwhile, Rubio carries the Republican Party line of repeal and replace and so he stays on message and attacks Crist as a flip flopper.

This race will be very tight and it will come down to exactly these sorts of errors. Rubio has won this round. If he's flawless going forward, victory is in hand.

Rubio Rakes in the Cash

Marco Rubio took in an impressive amount of cash in the last quarter.

Marco Rubio’s Senate campaign continues to rake in the contributions, raising more than $4.5 million during the recently completed second quarter, according to a statement released Monday.

The campaign of Mr. Rubio, a Republican, also announced that it has taken in more than $11 million in total and indicated that its second quarter haul outpaced his rival, Charlie Crist’s best fund-raising quarter. The Rubio campaign did not say, however, how much money it has on hand.

Polling in Florida has suggested that the Senate race could be close, but Mr. Rubio’s campaign certainly seems to have the momentum when it comes to gathering donations.

This is turning into the most interesting, most unpredictable, and most widely watched race in the country. So far, the polling is all over but more often than not Governor Crist still leads. He's benefitted from being in the spotlight as governor since the oil spill. Still, at some point, Crist will tell the world which side he will caucus with and it will be at that point that the race will be clearer.

The conventional wisdom is that Crist's lead is "soft". In that, many of Crist's voters can be swayed to go elsewhere. He's getting significant numbers of both Reps and Dems. Once he tells the world which side he caucus' with, the CW is that those on the other side will leave. So, this race remains unpredictable until that moment. It is, however, clear that Rubio has not been hurt by the scandals that hit him and the Florida RNC.

Florida in Play

Governor Charlie Crist has apparently decided that he will announce that he is dropping out of the Florida Senate Republican primary and run as an independent.

Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided he will run as an independent in the race to fill the Florida U.S. Senate seat, Crist allies tell Fox News. The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 5pm ET in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Senate campaign has been rough and tumble for Crist, he was once the front-runner -- but in recent months began trailing his GOP opponent, Tea Party favorite and former Florida State Speaker Marco Rubio. Rubio has been able to turn a 30-point deficit in the polls into a 30 point lead over Crist.

Crist has said that under no circumstance would he drop out of the race, saying he will do what is best for the voters of Florida. The governor says Republicans in Washington want him to stay in the Republican party but voters in Florida have told him they want him to run as an independent.

Both Crist and Rubio would have won the general election handily but in a three way race it's now wide open. The Democratic nominee is Kendrick Meek.