PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Me and every other freaking reporter on the planet:
Perhaps the most sought-after press credential in the country on Nov. 2: Republican Senate frontrunner Marco Rubio’s party at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
As of yesterday, the campaign had received requests from 232 media outlets. That includes 35 television cameras (of which 17 are from Florida) , network crews from NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, the BBC, NPR, Univision and Al Arabiya, and 75 members of the foreign press — radio reporters from the Czech Republic, West Africa, China; TV crews from The Congo, Columbia, Japan, France, Spain; and print reporters from Germany, New Zealand, Argentina and the UK.
To say Rubio has come a long way is a massive understatement. . . .
Indeed. In the first poll taken after “those treacherous bastards” at the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist in May 2009, Marco Rubio trailed by more than 30 points.
Professor William Jacobson gives credit to the “Not One Red Cent” rebellion against the GOP Establishment. I’ve told the story behind that rebellion at Hot Air Green Room:
We were standing outside the Continental Lounge in Rosslyn, Va., while the young Republican operative explained it to me.
“All they care about is getting their chairmanships back, and they don’t care how they get there,” said the operative. “They don’t want to spend any money, so they were looking for a self-funder.”
“They” are Republican senators, and what my friend was explaining was the otherwise inexplicable decision of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to endorse Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race — 15 months before the primary!
As soon as this news hit the Internet on Tuesday, the outright stupidity of the NRSC and its chairman, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, became the No. 1 topic of conversation among conservative activists, including the journalists, bloggers and GOP operatives who gathered for Thursday night’s cocktail party at the Continental in Rosslyn, just across the Potomac River from Georgetown.
The uprising of conservatives for Rubio has been one of the most inspiring political stories of recent years. Here in my cheap hotel, I just saw a TV ad in which Charlie Crist denounces Marco as “extreme.” Charlie doesn’t get it. He’s toast.
Anyway, I just interviewed a staffer for Steve Southerland, the GOP candidate here in Florida’s 2nd District. They’re feeling pretty confident they’ll defeat Allen Boyd tomorrow. But I just saw a DCCC TV ad distorting Southerland’s support for the Fair Tax, so “don’t get cocky.”)
It’s 592 miles to Miami. I want to stop by and see Allen West on the way. Please hit the tip jar.
