From American Spectator: The last advantage that moderate to liberal Florida Governor Charlie Crist had in his race for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat against conservative former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio is now gone. Crist is no longer the campaign finance champion. Rubio will have the money he needs to tell his story. And he, in stark contrast to Crist, has a story to tell in conservative 2010.
When the counting had been done last week, Rubio’s Q1 2010 campaign contribution haul of $3.6 million was more than three times the $1.1 million Crist took in over the same period. The money in this campaign has followed the polls, which now show former underdog Rubio ahead of Crist by somewhere between 11 and 32 points and ahead of Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic nominee, by double digits. The Crist campaign that started with a bang last spring, with lots of establishment endorsements and establishment cash, is well into its whimper stage. COntinue reading here.