Conservative David Frum wrote on CNN Monday night that Republicans are headed for a "spectacular bloodbath" in 2010.
The Republican fratricide in the Nov. 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010.
In New York, Republican feuding lost the party a seat in the House of Representatives. At stake in Florida is not only a senatorship -- but very possibly Republican hopes for 2012 as well.
Frum points out that Marco Rubio, the conservative candidate challenging Gov. Charlie Crist for the Senate, has won an enthusiastic national following by opposing stimulus funds. He has the endorsement of the Club For Growth. But he's getting little support with actual Florida voters.
The race has already gotten heated -- at a GOP fundraiser, Rubio said, "It's very simple: We already have a Democratic Party in America. We do not need two Democratic parties in America." His campaign was cheered when the moderate Republican candidate dropped out of a special House election in New York because of a conservative challenger. That challenger lost to a Democrat in a district that has gone Republican since 1872.