Eric Cantor Endorses Marco Rubio Over Charlie Crist In Florida Senate Race

WASHINGTON � The second-ranking Republican in the House is endorsing Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race.

In a statement Tuesday, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia said Rubio is the type of leader the nation needs.

The endorsement comes as Crist, once a rising star in the GOP, considers bolting from the party and running as independent in the race. Crist, the state's governor, trails the conservative Rubio by double digits in recent polls. Rep. Kendrick Meek is the likely Democratic nominee.

Polls suggest Crist could win as an independent in a three-way race.

Top Republicans are pressuring Crist to quit rather than run as an independent.

Comments

[siamao]

09:52 AM on 04/21/2010

siamao corrects below post: should have spelled that word
"Independent", as in Crist for Independent. (My fingers got
way too excited by the thought!)

[siamao]

09:51 AM on 04/21/2010

OK, Dems, I think it's time for contributions to the "Run Crist as Indepdent"
campaign. I'll pay a few bucks to help this man who has earned the disdain
of the snarly-lipped Eric Cantor. That's endorsement enough for me to want
to send Crist to Washington, even though Florida is not my home state.

[mollybeejay]

06:17 PM on 04/21/2010

siamo, I'm in. As soon as I red the headline, I thought I ought to contribute to his campaign.

[siamao]

07:17 PM on 04/21/2010

mollybeejay, I'll contribute to you with a fan!

[sofla954]

07:30 AM on 04/21/2010

I love the sight of Republicans eating their own and choosing the unelectable extremist over the moderate. Keep it up, guys!

[Kram]

01:10 AM on 04/21/2010

I give the advantage to the dems. Once this wingnut wack-a-loon is exposed, it's game set and match.

[KOSMOCITIZEN]

11:27 PM on 04/20/2010

why GOP don't like Crist ?
because he gave a hug to Obama or because he is a closet gay
i think Marco is too...so what is the difference..

[hernan1333]

10:33 PM on 04/20/2010

rubio is like a male version of palin....except he is dumber....

[Rooster Coburn]

10:07 PM on 04/20/2010

Charlie Crist rolled the dice and he lost! Get over it Charlie and go back to private life. He could have run for governor again and won easily but he had bigger plans that just didn't work out this year. The Republican Party of Florida is bigger than any one person or his ego. Crist should put Party over Self and withdraw from the senatorial contest completely.

[Martha57]

09:33 PM on 04/20/2010

If Rubio is elected it will be a big mistake. Do not vote for spite, vote for right. I have family in Florida and they will not vote for this guy, they say that he is not what the public thinks he is.

[WilliamL]

09:30 PM on 04/20/2010

Rubio is badfkiingnews and the idea of him in Congress is not a good thing whatsoever.

Christ might be able win as an I but with all the way Florida has gone a deeper shade of Red, it will be a push to see him get in.

The esp. sad thing is that the Dem canidate, believe his name is Meeks, is not even on the radar. It is amazing how the Ds can not produce a canidate.

[jerryatthebeach]

08:53 PM on 04/20/2010

I hope Marco will move to the Center as we a a very diversified state and need representation for all...

[WilliamL]

09:23 PM on 04/20/2010

Ain't gonna happen.

[Oonagh]

07:57 PM on 04/20/2010

You never know.. there are plenty of Independents in Florida.. the Democrats need to get out the vote with a really good candidate.

[wilinot]

07:47 PM on 04/20/2010

I wish all these other people, like Cantor, would stay out of this. This is Florida's business. I'm hoping Charlie Crist does run as an independent. That should only help Kendrick Meeks, the democrat.

[exPatPatti]

06:36 PM on 04/20/2010

If you dare to think for yourself, you will be ostracized from the GOP brownshirt brigade. You must NOT reach across the aisle. You must NOT endorse any dem plan, even if we wrote it. You must be pure and agree lockstep with whatever we say.

[ljc]

05:54 PM on 04/20/2010

Jim DeMint new boy at C Street.....Rubio's wife (is he married?) better keep close.

[CAHertzfe]

06:35 PM on 04/20/2010

to Jeanette Dousdebes.

[PWM]

04:57 PM on 04/20/2010

Marco: Now, Americans are also looking for clear alternatives on the issues of national defense. As I said earlier, there is no greater risk to this country than the risk posed by radical Islamic terrorists. Let me be clear about something. These terrorists aren't trying to kill us because we offended them. They attack us because they want to impose their view of the world on as many people as they can, and America is standing in their way. We need to make it unmistakably clear that we will do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to defeat radical Islamic terrorism.

We will punish -- we will punish their allies, like Iran -- and we will stand with our allies, like Israel. We will target and we will destroy terrorist cells and the leaders of those cells. The ones that survive, we will capture them.

AUDIENCE: Marco!”

From his CPAC speech.