Basing my opinion on Scott Rasmussen’s polling, I’m betting that Charlie Crist’s chances of replacing RINO Mel Martinez in the U.S. Senate are slim and dwindling. Here’s what Mr. Rasmussen’s polling shows:

Governor Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio are now tied in the 2010 race for the Republican Senate nomination in Florida.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters finds Crist and Rubio each with 43% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Republicans in most states want principled people. They don’t want people whose guiding principles aren’t found in that day’s polling or by who’s the popular politician that week. Charlie Crist is nothing if not a politician who’s guided only by what keeps him popular.

Marco Rubio doesn’t suffer from that affliction. From what I’ve seen, he’s both principled and he’s a good listener. He’s a conservative through and through. Washington won’t change him because he knows what his beliefs are and what his constituents want.

Most importantly, it’s obvious that Mr. Rubio knows that his constituents are the residents of Florida, not the chattering classes of DC or K Street lobbyists. That’s what led to Tom DeLay’s demise.

Statements like this are fueling Mr. Rubio’s campaign:

Yesterday’s vote on a $1.1 trillion spending bill is the latest sign that Washington continues ignoring the American people by failing to reign in out-of-control spending. It is outrageous that businesses and families have to trim their budgets, while Congress continues wasting away their tax dollars on a bill like this with more than 5000 earmarks and pay increases for government workers.

Unfortunately, this is only the latest example of a 2009 congressional spending spree that started with a $787 billion stimulus and may end with a $1 trillion health care plan. Americans are right to be gravely concerned about this continued spending with money our government simply doesn’t have.

As Congress prepares to use its next spending bill to increase the nation’s debt limit and President Obama talks about spending America’s way out of recession with a second stimulus, lawmakers must come to grips with how their excessive spending today is threatening our fragile economy as well as the long-term future of our nation.

It’s time that Republicans stopped with the earmark thing. It’s time that they said no to President Obama’s irresponsible spending, too. I pointed out here that the Democrats have increased the federal budget by 33 percent in less than a year. When President Obama criticized the “Wall Street fat-cats”, he ignored DC’s fat-cats because he’s fine with growing government at a disturbing rate. How is Washington’s greed for our money not worse than Wall Street’s greed?

Charlie Crist wouldn’t challenge President Obama over that, especially considering he’s still waffling on Stimulus II:

Unfazed by the original stimulus’ failure, the President is now calling for America to “spend our way out of recession” with a second stimulus that Governor Crist says he is open to supporting. It marks Crist’s re-embrace of the notion that more government spending can create lasting jobs and prosperity after months of conflicting and deceptive messages about his enthusiastic endorsement of the $787 billion stimulus.

Crist thought that all he had to do was check all the Republican boxes and he’d win Mel Martinez’ seat:

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist defended his Republican credentials on Monday, insisting it would be “hard to be more conservative than I am on [the] issues.”

OH REALLY??? It isn’t hard being more conservative than a guy who supported the initial failed stimulus bill, then was fiscally irresponsible enough to still consider supporting another round of spending that would largely benefit the Democrats’ political allies instead of creating the jobs that we badly need.

I don’t doubt that Crist thinks he’s a conservative. He’s just wrong about that. A Republican that agrees with the most liberal president in the last 40 years on two of the most liberal pieces of legislation isn’t my definition of a conservative.

That’s why I’m getting out the butter. I’m getting it out because Crist is toast.

Technorati: Polling, Marco Rubio, Conservatism, Fiscal Restraint, TEA Parties, RINO, Charlie Crist, President Obama, Stimulus, Stimulus II, GOP Primary, Election 2010

Cross-posted at California Conservative