Does God prefer Charlie Crist to Marco Rubio?

Just asking, since Gov. Charlie Crist mentioned the Lord when asked about his $4.3-million fundraising haul.

""It's a lot of hard work. And a lot of nice people. Hard work and kind people, obviously. I'm blessed. Thank God,'' Crist said when asked about the time spent raising money. "This is a race about people and about doing what's right for the people of Florida. I'm very pleased by the fund-raising effort, and I'm grateful for it."

The Rubio campaign, meanwhile, brushed off Crist's ginormous financial advantage: "Charlie Crist will need to spend every last cent trying to convince voters that his support for wasteful stimulus spending, cap-and-trade schemes, tax increases and liberal judges are acceptable Republican practices," said Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Burgos.

Gov. Charlie Crist reports raising $4.3 million for Senate bid

Charlie Crist announced that he raised a whopping, Florida-record-busting $4.3 million for his U.S. Senate campaign. Not clear yet how much of that can be spent in primary and how much is restricted to the general election. Finance director Dane Eagle says details such as cash on hand and won't come out until the July 15 filing deadline.

“I am humbled by the support that I am receiving from the people of Florida and around the country,” said Gov. Crist. “I take their support seriously and continue to work every day to honor the trust and confidence they have placed in me.”

The campaign says Crist averaged $86,000 per day over 50 days.

Investigation of letter threatening Gov. Charlie Crist dead ends

“Boom!! You are dead Charlie. This is a sample of what you got coming!! You Should Have Died in St. Pet But I will kill you Soon very soon no matter what happens to me my people will see this through you are not safe, nor your family I know everything about you we will get you we have the money t”

Who wrote this (grammatically) threatening letter to Gov. Charlie Crist last year? Who enclosed it in an envelope with a white powder meant to look like anthrax or some other poison?

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement never could figure it out, despite months of investigation spanning three counties. The letter arrived in Tallahassee Aug. 20, just as John McCain was considering whether to pick Crist as a vice presidential running mate.

Will Club for Growth jump aboard Rubio train?

It's clear that the influential Club for Growth is very fond of Marco Rubio and not at all crazy about Charlie Crist. It's less clear whether the club will throw its weight behind Rubio's underdog Senate campaign, particularly with Rubio's less than stellar early fundraising. If the club fully embraces the Rubio campaign and members are enthusiastic about him, it could mean more than $1 million in bundled donations to help the Miami Republican.

Executive Director David Keating called Rubio's reported $340,000 fundraising haul "respectable" but acknowledged "he's got to raise a lot more to make the race something he can win. ... He's not going to compete dollar to dollar with Crist, but he doesn't need to. If if he can get to the $4-$5 million range then I think it's a doable race."

Keating said there's no rush to make a decision on the Florida Senate primary, as the club has to look at races across the country to determine where to target its energy. "We can't do everything we'd like to do, so we want to make sure for our members that we give them the most bang for the buck."

Today's story on Rubio's fundraising is HERE

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Rubio says he raised $340,000

If Marco Rubio was hoping to match the growing national buzz over his U.S. Senate challenge of Charlie Crist with a big debut fundraising quarter, this won't cut it: He raised $340,000 in his first quarter as a candidate, according to an e-mail to supporters. No word yet on his cash on hand.
 
"Together, generous support like yours has generated over $340,000 in overall contributions during the second quarter, over $144,000 of which was raised online, including over $34,000 in the last two days of the period alone. You were one of nearly 2,500 donors, representing all 50 states and more than 55 Florida counties. We are also well on our way to unleashing the enormous potential of our passionate and committed donors, over 96 percent of which have the continued ability to support my campaign repeatedly, consistently and quarter after quarter.

"This is a strong statement about the direction you believe our Republican Party, our state and our nation should take. It is an encouraging reminder about how piece by piece, supporter by supporter and idea by idea, we are building a movement that will only grow and gain momentum as we continue on this path."

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Meek raises another $1.2-mil for Senate campaign

The campaign finance reports aren't due until July 15, but Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek raised another $1.2 million in the last quarter, his campaign says.

That brings his total haul to more than $3 million -- including the $347,000 he transferred from his congressional campaign -- and $2.5 million of that is for the primary. About 4,300 people have contributed. 

"No other non-incumbent Democratic candidate for Senate is raising money like we are to build a movement,'' said Democratic political consultant Ana Cruz, noting that unlike Republican Charlie Crist, Meek is not concentrating on raising money for both the general election and primary. "Our support is both broad and deep. We haven't gone to these big donors and said, "Max out to us for both the primary and general election now. This shows the guy's got traction."

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Crist's bottom line barely budged in 2008

Charlie Crist's personal bottom line showed a slight uptick in 2008, but he remains the least affluent statewide officeholder in Florida. In a financial statement and copy of a federal tax return filed with the Commission on Ethics, Crist lists a net worth of $466,000, up from $457,000 the previous year. Because Crist does not own a home, apparently carries no credit card debt and lives in the Governor's Mansion, he has very little overhead.

The only real change in his financial condition was growth of about $7,000 in an IRA and investment account. The accounts are held in a revocable trust that is managed by Crist's father, Dr. Charles Crist of St. Petersburg, and Robert Martinez, a member of the state Board of Education and attorney in Coral Gables who helped manage Crist's transition to power in 2007.  

According to his tax return, Crist owed the IRS $1,438 after paying less tax than required. Last year he got a refund of $1,793. He also claimed a refund of $1,104 for payment of state and local sales taxes. Another change on Crist's tax return: his marital status, married to Carole Lynn Crist. They filed separately.   

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Diaz-Balart brothers endorse Crist

U.S. Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart have endorsed Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate.

"Charlie Crist understands that freedom is under attack and it must be protected with clarity and firmness by the United States. He will be an effective Senator for Florida. I strongly support him," Lincoln Diaz-Balart said in a statement.

The support of the Diaz-Balart brothers should help Crist in two areas: becoming more familiar with U.S. policy in Cuba and Latin America and helping to neutralize the support that his opponent, Marco Rubio, has in the Cuban community in greater Miami. Crist and Mario Diaz-Balart, the younger of the two brothers, served together in the state Senate in the 1990s.

The brothers backed Bill McCollum over another prominent Cuban American, Mel Martinez, in the 2004 Senate race, though that came before Martinez entered the race.

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Crist destroys Tokyo and other weird stuff

Howard Troxler:

June 1 (Actual, true item): Gov. Charlie Crist lays waste to Florida by signing a law allowing developers to build whatever they want without regard for impact on roads.

July 5: Crist accidentally signs and vetoes a bill at the same time, creating a constitutional and legal crisis. Asked which action he intended, Crist answers: "Yes."

July 17: Florida Senate instructs its members and staffers not to cooperate with investigations by CSI: Miami.

Aug. 10: Senate President Jeff Atwater is caught gigging sea turtles in front of a coastal condominium complex. His comment: "I thought you said beach nourishment."

Sept. 20: Crist destroys Tokyo. (read the full column here)

Let's play the fundraising expectations game

We've seen the grim unemployment and foreclosure numbers for Florida. Now we're about to see another telling gauge about the state of Florida's economy: campaign fundraising reports. Regrettable as it may be, money matters profoundly in statewide Florida campaigns. The greatest message ever is meaningless if a candidate lacks the money to spread it across this vast state.

So while most voters blissfully ignore the quiet campaign dramas playing out more than a year before election day, initial fundraising totals are widely watched  by the political intelligensia as a key indicator of a candidate's strength and viability.The three-month fundraising period that ended June 30 (reports are due July 10 for state candidates and July 15 for federal candidates), is especially unpredictable this year. With most every statewide office open in 2010, a slew of candidates is trying to make a big splash in the fundraising quarter to show their strength and scare off more rivals.

They're all courting a finite pool of donors in a terrible economy that has clobbered one of the biggest donor sectors - development and real estate. And they're doing it at the same time Florida's big kahuna of money-raising - Charlie Crist - is working overtime to drain the money swamp for himself.
 We're hearing lots of spin from all sides aiming to raise expectations for their opponents and lower them for their own candidate. Let's wade into the expectations game, and summarize the conventional wisdom among the political professionals in and outside the campaigns.