Erin McPike reports that Charlie Crist's about to receive two major conservative endorsements in his race for Florida's open Senate seat.
The gets:
SD Senator John Thune (who ranked as the 11th most conservative Senator on the National Journal's 2008 scale) and Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (who ranked as the most conservative on the scale).
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These are big conservative scores for Crist. The two Senators are much-loved by grassroots conservatives, and are exactly the type of supporters Rubio would need to propel an insurgency.
After all, Mitch McConnell's one thing. Thune and Kyl, quite the other.
Moving on, Mitt Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, says that neither Romney nor his PAC have made a decision on the race.
McPike wonders why the hesitation, and has a few good theories on why the presumptive 2012 front-runner might stay neutral indefinitely (ea).
For one thing, Florida's presidential primary is early on the list of states, and a victory there could provide momentum in securing a GOP nomination, so he might not want to offend a more conservative bloc of Republican primary voters who could be supporting Rubio.
What's more, Romney's team was blindsided by Crist's 11th hour endorsement of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the weekend before the presidential primary last year. Romney also is close to former Gov. Jeb Bush, Rubio's mentor, and Florida-savvy Republican consultants believe Bush might give the green light to let his former aides work for Rubio.
