Crist, Rubio, Florida, senate, election
If Marco Rubio is riding the wave of voter resentment, then Charlie Crist is caught in the undertow.
Poor old Charlie. Never one to light fires of passion in the electorate, he chooses to run as the incumbent heir apparent in a year when "throw the bums out" is rapidly becoming the full-throated cry of the land.
Florida has always been a place where merely having more name recognition than one's opponent has usually been enough to guarantee a victory in any statewide race. This year, Charlie's name recognition is working against him. He is the governor of a state hit harder by the recession than most, and that Obama hug certainly didn't help.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio has been spouting the kind of populist, iconoclastic rhetoric that has enabled a hitherto unknown to become a serious contender. Even God-fearing folks up in North Florida--who, until now, thought Marco Rubio was a game kids play in the pool--have managed to overcome their considerable suspicion of anybody who hails from south of Orlando to push him ahead in the primary polls.
When you're red-hot mad, you vote for a chili pepper, not a marshmallow.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
The only precinct in Florida that Charlie is leading in is Wilton Manors.
Posted by: Brucie | January 27, 2010 3:45 PM
Now this is Change I Can Believe In!!!! :D
Posted by: Barry O. | January 27, 2010 6:35 PM
Remember when Charlie ran for Governor? Running around the state telling everyone that Jeb! was the finest man who ever breathed. Then as soon as he is elected he starts chucking out Jeb! policies and Jeb! appointees right and left and trying to govern as some kind of tree-hugging populist. I may like the tree hugger better than I liked Jeb!, but I could never vote for anyone who ran an election on such a stupendous framework of total lies.
Posted by: Tom | January 28, 2010 5:57 AM