Support For Marco Rubio Grows

Truth is, I was on the Marco for US Senator bandwagon when the possibility of a campaign was just a rumor. When I told a co-worker that I intended to back Rubio if he announced I was told that there was no way that Rubio could beat Gov. Crist outside of South Florida. Pat writing at both And So it Goes in Shreveport and Not Once Red Cent has the St. Pete Times of the straw polls to date:

Here are the votes taken so far:

Marion County GOP, Rubio 40, Crist 8, abstain 4;
Hernando County GOP, Rubio 46, Crist 0;
Gilchrist County GOP, Rubio 11, Crist 1;
Republican Women's Club of Duval Federated, Rubio 65, Crist 4;
Northwest Orange Republican Women Federated, Rubio 49, Crist 3;
Jefferson County GOP, Rubio 30, Crist 6;
Highlands County GOP, Rubio 75, Crist 1;
Pasco County GOP, Rubio 73, Crist 9;
Lee County GOP, Rubio 60, Crist 9;
Florida Federation of College Republicans, Rubio 19, Crist 6;
Bay County GOP, Rubio 23, Crist 2.

For those of you not familiar with the state of Florida, and as an "I told you so" to my co-worker, the above straw poll results show Rubio kicking Crist all over the state.

Adding to Crist's discomfort is this by George Will:

"In January 2011, one Floridian will leave for the U.S. Senate. He is
unlikely to be a former governor at odds with his party's nominating electorate,
or the probable Democratic nominee, Kendrick Meek, a hyper-liberal congressman.
Rubio intends to prove that 'in the most important swing state, you can run
successfully as a principled conservative.' He probably will."

Those of us who have had the privilege of listening to Rubio speak are taken by his message of smaller government, less taxes, term limits and support for the 2nd Amendment. Contrast this to Crist, who is a big government career politician who broke his promise to Floridians not to raise our taxes.

I can forgive my co-worker his short sightedness, but not the NRSC, who in the mother of all knucklehead political moves endorsed Crist despite their long standing habit of not pick favorites prior to the primaries. However, if Cornyn and the NRSC are inclined to offer a mea culpa (better now than after Rubio kicks their boy in the primary) I am sure it would be accepted with only a minimum of mockery.

However, the time for the NRSC to save at least some face is slipping away. We all make mistakes. It is time for the NRSC to admit to their's.