Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will back ex-FL House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) in his contested Senate election in the latest setback for the GOP's leading contender.
Ryan, a fiscal conservative seen as one of the rising stars in the House GOP, used his announcement to implicitly hit Gov. Charlie Crist (R) for some of his less-than-conservative stands. Conservatives are angry with Crist over his early support for the economic
stimulus package.
"Marco Rubio has proven he is exactly the type of consistent, principled conservative the Republican Party needs to ensure the relationship between the federal government and the individual is one that maximizes freedom and prosperity," Ryan said in a statement released by Rubio's campaign.
His endorsement isn't a huge blow to Crist on its own, but it's been a long time since Crist had a good day. Just yesterday,
Crist's handpicked party chair, Jim Greer, announced he would step down, and Crist himself admitted earlier this week that his need to raise money hampered his performance as GOV.
Crist is a monster fundraiser, and he will get a boost once his campaign releases money numbers that are likely to again show him leading Rubio by a huge margin in the cash chase. But the 2 previous times he's released FEC reports, along with a boomlet he got when his camp made it clear they would be more aggressive against Rubio, have been the only good days Crist has had in a very long time.
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/01/paul_ryan_endor.php
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