The St. Petersburg Times editorial board on Friday endorsed Gov. Charlie Crist in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Although the Times recognized that Crist was not perfect, they said that, “Crist offers a fresh approach and is well known to Floridians. He moves easily among Republicans and Democrats who are not party activists. He is fiscally conservative and socially moderate. He has praised Ronald Reagan and embraced Barack Obama. He respects differing opinions, adopts good ideas regardless of their source and treats everyone with uncommon decency. That is the prescription for restoring the Senate’s once-proud tradition of collaboration and compromise…”
The Times also praised Rep. Kendrick Meek who they said has “served a competent eight years in the House..but who had not distinguished himself from the pack in Congress.”
As for Republican front runner Marco Rubio, the Times editorial board said he “is exactly what Florida and the nation do not need.” The Times also pointed out the “yawning gulf between Rubio’s legislative record and his rhetoric pushing fiscal responsibility”.
The Board recalled that it was during his tenure as state House Speaker that Rep. Ray Sansom inserted $6 million into the budget for a community college building that was really an airport hangar for a friend. They also pointed out that, it was Rubio who charged thousands of dollars of personal expenses, such as groceries and repairs to the family minivan, on a GOP Party credit card.
