Published: Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009

Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009

A forceful Crist takes on challenger Rubio

In a widely anticipated speech to the Broward Republican Party, Gov. Charlie Crist sought to regain momentum in the U.S. Senate race Monday by portraying his surging Republican competitor as all talk and no action.

Crist addressed roughly 300 activists at the same Fort Lauderdale hotel where former House Speaker Marco Rubio spoke last month as part of a statewide offensive to show up the governor at Republican clubs across Florida.

“When you’re governor, you have to lead,” Crist said. “When you’re in office, you have to perform. I’m not a guy who is running for office and promising you stuff. I’ve already done it.”

Rubio’s climb in the polls has forced Crist to ramp up his campaign earlier than expected. This week he is deploying campaign field directors in two traditionally friendly parts of the state: South Florida and his home turf of Tampa Bay.

“Man, it’s been a rough patch,” he said, as he sat down with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board earlier Monday.

For the next hour, the new national poster boy for endangered moderate Republicans talked about how Rubio won’t escape serious scrutiny much longer, the difference between governing and campaigning, how he understands the perception problems in spending so much time raising money out of state and the confounding questions about his conservatism.

“It’s hard to be more conservative than I am on issues . . . I’m pro-life, I’m pro-gun, I’m pro-family and I’m anti-tax. I don’t know what else you’re supposed to be, except maybe angry too,” said Crist, who as a state legislator voted against abortion restrictions and more recently supported increasing cigarette taxes in Florida and the federal $787 billion stimulus package.

Crist, who used to act like the inevitable nominee for the Senate, no longer sounded like someone taking anything for granted. He seemed instead like a candidate who, after months of steady criticism from conservative activists and from Rubio, is eager to engage and peel away the veneer on the former state House speaker.

Earlier in St. Petersburg, Crist suggested that Rubio was overstating his conservative credentials.

“Until somebody is clearly defined, if they say certain things on the stump, then that individual can become what people want him to be, even if it isn’t necessarily the case. I mean, he’s voted for tax increases several times,” Crist said of Rubio, who backed a plan to cut property taxes and raise sales taxes.

“Campaigns, thank God, are an educational opportunity,” Crist said. “During the course of the next nine months or so we will strive to lay out a very good education. I believe in Reagan’s 11th Commandment — thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican — but I also think you need to be honest and truthful and make sure that before people go to the ballot box, they have a good opportunity to be well-informed.”

The Rubio campaign brushed off Crist’s hints that he would paint Rubio as a phony.

“Among other issues, Charlie Crist hasn’t been honest about his record of endorsing the stimulus, so we don’t expect him to be honest about Marco Rubio’s record,” said Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Burgos. “Floridians deserve leaders they can trust to go to Washington to stand up against the Obama agenda.”

Crist has far more campaign money, but Rubio has been gaining glowing reviews in the conservative media nationally and has been trouncing Crist in popularity votes in local Republican parties across Florida.