TALLAHASSEE — Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio was walking through the Tallahassee airport parking lot looking for his rental car when he came to an obvious conclusion.
“It’s not the Cadillac. We didn’t raise enough money,” he said with a broad smile, seemingly not bothered by the fact that primary opponent Gov. Charlie Crist is raising almost $13 for every $1 Rubio brings in.
It’s not just the money that gives Crist an edge. The governor is known by virtually everyone in Florida, while Rubio isn’t well known outside Miami-Dade County or the state Capitol, where he served as House Speaker for two years. Crist also has good poll numbers, and is one of the best campaigners in the state.
How does Rubio possibly win? Certainly not by running more TV ads. For Rubio, the strategy is message versus money, ideas versus name ID, positions versus popularity. And he is generating a buzz among the Republicans he does reach, showing charisma, strong speaking skills and a firm knowledge of issues facing the federal government.
He appeals to the base of the party with solid conservative positions on social issues, government spending and taxes. While he doesn’t attack Crist while campaigning, he clearly sets himself up as the alternative for Republicans who believe Crist has gone too far toward the political middle, particularly by promoting President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package.
The question is whether that will be enough to seriously compete with Crist in the Aug. 24, 2010, primary.
Even Rubio acknowledges the conventional wisdom that he can’t beat Crist, and then he’ll express confidence that he will prevail if voters have a chance to compare the two candidates.
While Crist avoids talking about federal issues or gives essentially non-answers to questions about health care and other topics being debated in Washington, Rubio talks to anyone he can — and spending as little money as he can doing it.
After walking past the Cadillac on his recent trip, he climbed into the passenger seat of a Nissan Rouge for a three-hour, 200-mile drive to Pensacola. He spoke to the Pensacola News-Journal editorial board then spent an hour talking to nearly 100 people at a Gulf Coast Economics Club luncheon.
The luncheon crowd loved him.
“I’m most impressed with you — most impressed. You are great,” Mickey Graves, 72, of Gulf Breeze, told Rubio afterward as she handed him a $100 check.
Graves, a Republican, had never seen Rubio speak, and she said later that she doesn’t easily hand out money to politicians. But she said she’s had enough of Crist and sees his decision to run for Senate instead of a second term as governor as self-serving.
“He’s a little slick for me,” Graves said of Crist. But she sees Rubio as a person with ideas. “I liked everything he had to say,” Graves added, reaching into her purse for a small slip of paper. “In fact, I wrote it down so I could tell some of my friends.”
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