Florida Governor Charlie Crist is in Washington this morning, for the 3rd and final day of the National Governors Association Winter meeting. It came before a new poll released by Rasmussen shows the Governor getting blown out of the water against Marco Rubio, with Rubio up 54 to 36% in the survey.
Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe show shortly after 7 a.m., the Governor was asked about comments made yesterday by one of President Obama's most high profile Republican supporters, former General Colin Powell, who said on CBS's Face the Nation that Republicans will be dealing with Obama for the next three years, and " I don’t think the country will be well served if all we see for the next three years are attempts to bring him down and destroy him as a political figure.."
Crist responded that he thought Republicans "have been" dealing responsibly with the President.
But when asked about the fact that he now trails his GOP Senate challenger, Marco Rubio, in most polls, Crist fired back after he first said that "the polls don't concern me, I have to do what's right for the people,". But MSNBC host Joe Scarborough immediately fired back, asking him about why the people now feel less likely to support him.
Crist took the bait and ran with it, saying that voters will soon learn "who's the real deal, as opposed to whose making the deal." He then followed up about Rubio saying, "when he had power, he wanted to increase taxes, half a billion dollars in earmarks. It takes leadership, and not just to talk about it, which is what he's been doing for six months."
When asked by Time Magazine and Game Change author Mark Halperin if he was going to lose the primary to Rubio, Crist shot back, "No way. I'm going to win, because the people know what's right."
That was less than two hours ago. Stunningly, the Rubio media team has not yet sent out a press release on Crist's comments. We'll see if one is issued soon.
Crist looked a bit peeved when Morning Joe producers continued to replay in minute detail the infamous hug that President Obama gave Crist in Fort Myers a year ago that has proved so successful for Rubio. As Scarborough joked that they were viewing it like it was the Zapruder film, Crist righteously retorted that he was raised to be civil, and that he was the Governor of all the people of Florida, and "I'm not going to apologize for this."
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2010.