UPDATE @ 9:49 a.m.: Crist made an announcement on Twitter a short time ago:
After thoughtful consideration with my wife Carole, I have decided to run for the U.S. Senate.I think some of the D.C. pundit types are under-estimating just how ugly this could become for Crist -- and the ugliness will be coming from Crist's fellow Republicans.
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You knew this was going to happen.
Florida's photogenic (and newly wed -- to a woman) Governor, Charlie Crist, is going to run for the U.S. Senate. He's not quite the neanderthal that most Republicans are. So, Crist is getting a primary -- and the real right wingers are lining up behind his GOP opponent, Macro Rubio. This primary could get really ugly:
[Crist] will be facing a vigorous fight from former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a young, outspoken Hispanic conservative who is capturing the attention of activists in Florida and across the country.GOP fratricide. They just can't help themselves.
Rubio began telegraphing his attacks against Crist even before the governor’s formal announcement. In an interview with POLITICO, he singled out Crist for abandoning conservative principles and compared the governor to moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
“If we’re offering the same thing as the Democrats, but with different packaging, what’s the point in having a Republican Party?” Rubio said.“I’m going to offer Floridians a clear, consistent, authentic small-government choice in the primary.”
Indeed, Rubio expects the primary to receive national attention as a referendum between the party’s moderate and conservative wings. He just received a glowing profile in the Weekly Standard, which called him the “perfect recruit for statewide office.”
