What? You mean Anheuser-Busch doesn’t have the tourism clout that Disney does?!
And he is the Tea Party candidate, and, in Florida as elsewhere, practically nobody of any party who is not already a supporter of the movement wants the Tea Party getting anyone into Congress. Most Florida Pubs will still vote for Rubio, but half of those will be holding their noses.
All this based, and quite soundly and wisely, simply on his movement affiliations. As for his particular personal politics . . . well, at least he’s not an embarrassment like Christine O’Donnell, nor quite so far right, I think. Actually we haven’t heard much about his politics or policies so far this campaign, in his own ads nor Crist’s nor Meek’s. I guess we’ll have to wait for the candidates’ debate on October 24. Presumably he’s far-right enough that the Tea Party liked him, and would be part of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus Michelle Bachmann is organizing.
That’s a House caucus, not a Senate one.
Presumably it would become a two-house caucus if Rubio (or any other Tea Party candidate) gets into the Senate.
OK, so let’s try a different hypothetical: If Meek dropped out of the race (which a major-party nominee never does, but just suppose), and it were just Crist v. Rubio, who would win?
You know, my late Mom remembered when Busch Gardens was just that, back in the 1950s – a brewery, with a tropical garden attached, with lots of tropical birds. You could go there and get beer and drink it in the garden, all for free.
Now there’s no brewery any more, just a theme park.
Heh…when our family went to Florida for vacation when I was a kid, I remember we stopped at Busch Gardens in Virginia (the Old Country) on the way, but we never took the side trip from Orlando to Tampa to go to the Dark Continent. I’ve kind of felt sorry for that Busch Gardens for being the out-of-the-way, outshone, red-headed cousin of the Disney juggernaut ever since.
BTW, Al Gore will be speaking at a Kendrick Meek rally today, Thursday 09/30/10, at the Letter Carriers Hall, 3003 W. Cypress Street, Tampa; doors open at 4:45 p.m.
I’ll try to make it, and if I do I’ll try to gauge the mood of the crowd. Excited? Discouraged? Conflicted?
Crist, by a mile.
Got there late and everyone was leaving, so, no assessment. :o
Were they rushing out to beat the traffic, or walking out with expressions of wonderment?
Bush was never a Senator. Rubio is not running for Governor. Rubio seems to be a hard Christian right guy. Probably won’t be the end of the world if he gets elected, but I’d prefer either of the other two. I’m not wild about hard line conservative Cubans.
I have to agree with BG, no Cat 5 for Tampa Bay just to prove how much Republicans screwed up the state, thank you. Couldnt we just get a satellite to hit the stage on the night of the debate so we can start over again?
Hmmm . . . Well, I’m sure we have some talented hackers on the Dope, and [REMAINDER OF POST DELETED BY ORDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY]
From the Wall Street Journal:
Well, no real question of who he’d caucus with under those circumstances. Wonder if there’s any validity to the rumors and speculation.
Crist has to be realizing that there’s no room for him in the new-look Republican Party. Hell, the primary should have told him all he needed to know.
Has any Senate candidate ever been elected without first declaring which party they’d caucus with? All the independent candidates I can remember (Liebermann, Sanders, etc) made it pretty clear (in Liebermann’s case, a specific promise) which side of the aisle they’d be on. I can think of candidates that changed their minds once elected (Jeffords), but has anyone run a successful campaign while saying they’d figure out which party they’d be aligned with once they got there?
Harry Byrd, Jr. left the Democratic Party in 1970, and was reelected as an independent. I cannot find any record of him announcing which side he would caucus with. In any event, he remained a Democrat in all but name.
Meek has, of course, denied it. We’ll see how the numbers look in another two weeks, though.
Now Rubio, 39, leads the race for U.S. Senate and is the face of a national conservative revival. Admirers once predicted — and Rubio planned — he would be governor. Now, they gush, he could be president.
Rubio is a political jock: popular, good-looking, charismatic. His campaign speech about fulfilling the American dream for his Cuban exile parents is so steeped with emotion and pride, it brings audiences to tears.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article1127114.ece