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Nov 12, 2009 4:26 pm US/Eastern
Rubio Tapped To Be CPAC Keynote Speaker
(CBS4)
The race between Florida Governor Charlie Crist and former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination for Mel Martinez's old Senate seat had another twist added to it on Thursday. Rubio has been tapped to be the keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2010.
For a conservative Republican, the impact could be quite large. The CPAC convention is traditionally used by the GOP to display the new talent, and Rubio could be the new face the more conservative base is looking for nationally.
The race between Crist and Rubio could be a harbinger of the national battle between the more conservative wings of the Republican Party and the more moderate members of the GOP. Crist is associated with being a moderate and has been linked to President Obama by the Rubio campaign. Rubio has been pushing a more hard-line conservative agenda in the Senate race and the race may begin to shape up the same way as the recent contest for New York's 23rd Congressional district did.
In the New York race, a more conservative candidate, Bill Hoffman, won support of GOP stars like Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson. Hoffman wasn't running as a Republican, but eventually, through his national support, forced the Republican candidate out of the race. Hoffman seemed to have the momentum on his side, but wound up losing to the Democrat in the race, which marked the first-time a Democrat had won the district since just after the Civil War.
And therein lays the potential pitfall for GOP members if a rift does begin to develop between the moderates and the conservatives. If the GOP vote begins to split, it could open the door for a Democratic candidate, even if the district/state has been solidly Republican for decades.
It also places Crist in a precarious position, given his support of Obama's stimulus package. Crist still has a sizable lead in donations, but if the political seas begin to change for the GOP, the race could be a lot closer than most experts had originally thought.
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