Fox News’s Fin Gomez writes that Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who hopes to become the state’s next Senator, took a drubbing in last night’s Pinellas County straw poll at the hands of his GOP rival Marco Rubio:
In a stinging, yet largely symbolic blow to Gov.Charlie Crist’s senate bid, his primary opponent, Marco Rubio, easily won a straw poll held tonight by party leaders in the county that Crist calls home. Pinellas County Republican activists voted 106-54 for Rubio despite Crist’s strong ties to the area from where he launched his political career,the western Florida area includes Clearwater, and St. Petersburg.
Such straw polls mean little, but Gomez notes the significant detail that Rubio has won every such straw poll held so far. With new polls showing him gaining on or even drawing even with Crist, Rubio’s candidacy has also gained serious credibility beyond the conservative activists who originally demonstrated unhappiness with Crist as a Senate nominee.
Crist has been feeling the heat on the Right enough that he recently made noises about claiming the pro-life label. It did not help, though, that upon making this statement he would committed only to support legislation for an adoption tax credit that already exists, and would say nothing about whether he would support laws curtailing abortion on demand.
