U.S Senate candidates Marco Rubio, Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek spent much of Wednesday evening’s debate trying to cast the race as a choice between themselves and two identical opponents.
For the front-running Rubio, that meant arguing that Crist and Meek were liberal supporters of the unpopular Democratic administration in Washington, D.C. Crist countered that Rubio and Meek represented the extremes of their parties and only he could thread the partisan needle. Meek rejoined that Crist and Rubio were in the same Republican Party as recently as this spring, casting himself as the lone non-conservative in the race.
In the end, however, it was clear that Crist and Meek both thought Rubio was the frontrunner as the last month of campaigning begins in earnest. They both took turns calling him Rubio extreme for Florida and tried to position themselves as the best alternative to his election. Crist said Rubio “has been drinking too much tea” and Meek said the former House Speaker “cannot be federalized.”
The former Florida House Speaker who meteorically rose to lead the U.S. Senate race he once trailed by 30 points came under attack early and often as the candidates jousted over Social Security, health care and who would be the most viable alternative to the front-running Rubio.
“I’m the only candidate who can win in November and crash that Tea Party in Washington,” said Crist, who has fought Meek over Democratic-leaning voters in the race.
“You know I’ll do it because I’ve done it as your governor,” Crist added, ticking off a list of high-profile vetoes he issued this spring just before he left the Republican Party.
Meek, who has been dogged by whispers that state and national Democrats don’t think he can win, said “Floridians are going to have to take a stand in this election over the next several weeks.”
“Recent polls show the governor and I are neck and neck in this race,” he said. “The goal is to be the next United States senator. We cannot let Marco Rubio be federalized. He doesn’t carry the values that are important to Floridians.”
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed Meek in third place and losing Democrats to Crist 46 to 43 percent. He trailed overall 46 to 33 to 18 percent.
Buoyed by such numbers – and flush with cash – Rubio embraced the idea that Crist and Meek were similar candidates. Rubio cast the race as a referendum on the Obama administration.
“The direction that Washington is taking us is the wrong one,” Rubio said. “What this race is about here in Florida is very simple: do you want to stay on that road, or do you want to go in a better direction? If you like the direction in Washington, if you support the direction that Washington’s taking America, then I’m probably not your candidate. There are two other people running for U.S. Senate who support the direction Washington is going.”
Rubio criticized Crist and Meek for supporting the stimulus – but Crist defended it, saying it saved jobs in Florida. “It’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs,” Crist said. While Crist pushed for it to be passed in Congress, Meek did him one better.
“I’m the only candidate that stood up and actually voted for the stimulus,” said Meek.
Rubio also repeatedly said his top priority in the Senate would be to reduce spending, calling the current deficit unsustainable.
Rubio and Crist also sparred on Florida’s spending, arguing about who was more frugal during the time they served in government together. Crist said he vetoed earmarks in the House budget that was sent to him when Rubio was speaker, but Rubio noted the budgets proposed by the House in the two years he was in charge were smaller than those proposed by Crist.
At the start of Wednesday’s debate, which was televised statewide, Rubio found himself on the defensive on the issue of Social Security, which was the topic of a recent critical Crist television commercial Rubio said was “not true.” The ad hits Rubio for wanting to reduce benefits and lower the retirement age.
“It’s a lie. Every idea I’ve ever advocated in Florida would not impact a single senior,” Rubio told Crist. “One of those seniors is my mom.”
Crist stood by the ad, which said Rubio’s plan for Social Security was “work longer, get by on less,” saying it’s based on Rubio’s “own words.” Rubio has said he would only like to change the Social Security system for future beneficiaries, not those already drawing benefits or those about to retire.
Meek quickly jumped into the fray on the topic, saying “I’m the only one that fought against privatization, always.”
“If they want to change social security, they’re going to have to go through me,” Meek said. “I’m 6’3″, used to be a football player.”
Perhaps looking to shore up his sagging Democratic base, Meek also delivered a full-throated defense of the increasingly unpopular federal health care law, which is currently facing a lawsuit from Florida and several other states.
“I voted for it and I’d vote for it again, if I had the opportunity,” he said. “When you hear Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist talk about what they like as though they are in some sort of breakfast bar and pick the raisins out of the raisin bread and say these are the parts of the bread…they want to empower the insurance companies all over again. I’m the only one here who understands that 3,500 Floridians lose their insurance every week.”
Rubio retorted that the health care bill was a “disaster” he said “has broken every promise that was made when Kendrick Meek and Charlie Crist supported it.”
“It must be repealed and replaced,” he said.
Crist came under fire from Meek for shifting his position on gay adoptions in Florida, which he prominently opposed when he was running for governor in 2006 and now supports. Meek called the switch “mind boggling.”
“He was the Gov. Wallace when it came down to gay adoption,” Meek said. “He stood in the school house door on this issue.”
Crist, who famously said “things change” to explain his decision to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent, appeared to acknowledge he adopted conservative ideology he was never fully comfortable with.
“It wasn’t honest with myself to stay in that party, so I left the building,” he said.
Crist said he had supported the gay adoption ban when he was running for governor because he was attorney general and had to uphold the law. But really, he said, he’s a “live-and-let-live” kind of guy.
“I hope the people at home understand what’s going on here,” he added at the close of the debate. “If you want someone on the far right, you’ve got Marco Rubio. The far left, you’ve got Kendrick Meek. If you want someone who wants to fight for you and apply common sense, I’m your guy.”
By Keith Laing
The News Service of Florida
