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Crist bid widens Fla. GOP rift

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By WILLIAM MARCH wmarch@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 15, 2009

TAMPA - Some Republican Party activists are rebelling over the party favoring Gov. Charlie Crist in his U.S. Senate primary race against Marco Rubio, saying the party should stay neutral and let GOP voters decide.

Officers of the Hillsborough County party passed a resolution Thursday objecting to efforts by state party Chairman Jim Greer, a Crist ally, to have the state party back Crist.

Meanwhile, a Florida delegate to the Republican National Committee has blocked a move by Greer to line up the national party behind Crist.

"This has nothing to do with the candidates," said Hillsborough party Chairman Debbie Cox-Roush. "What it has to do with is following the rules of the party."

The situation illustrates the rift between establishment GOP backers of Crist and conservatives who consider him too liberal.

Rubio, a former state House speaker from Miami, is an underdog against Crist for the GOP Senate nomination, but a champion to many conservatives.

National GOP leaders, considering Crist more likely to win the general election against a Democrat, already have endorsed Crist.

That includes Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, head of the party's Senate campaign arm, the Republican National Senatorial Committee.

Those endorsements generated an angry backlash in the right-wing blogosphere, with some pundits calling for a boycott of donations to the committee.

"Voters should have the right to choose their candidate ... and every candidate should have the same opportunity as long as they're not morally objectionable," Cox-Roush said.

Sharon Day, of Fort Lauderdale, who holds the post of national Republican committeewoman from Florida, refused Greer's request to sign a letter authorizing the national Republican Party to help Crist in the primary.

Party rules say the party must stay neutral in primaries unless all three members of the national committee from a state sign a letter authorizing the party to take sides. Greer, also a national committee member, and Paul Senft of Bartow, Florida's national committeeman, have both signed the letter.

Day, the third member, said she's neutral in the Crist-Rubio primary.

"We have a process to elect our candidates in primaries," she said. "I'm not endorsing any candidate, but I represent all Republicans."

Greer said the letter is "simply a procedural matter" and would make little difference because of the national committee already has endorsed Crist and committed to helping him.

"All the Republican leadership is coming out almost daily supporting the governor, and the entity that has the financial resources, the RNSC, has already endorsed him and told the Crist campaign it will have their full support," Greer said.

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