Live Blogging Rubio DeMint Conference Call

Former Speaker of the House Marco Rubio is holding a bloggers conference call today, building off of his endorsement by stalwart conservative Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC).

Said DeMint: "Americans are increasingly [alarmed] by the direction of our country. ... and Americans, not just Republicans, are looking for an alternative. ... It is important that we don't offer the status quo. ... Marco has convinced me that he can win the race in Florida and help set the tone for Republicans across the country."

In response to my question to Rubio about his plan to raise his name identification outside of south Florida. Paraphrased "We started early; we are still 16 months out. ... We plan to travel everywhere, go anywhere, raise enough money with voters. ... This campaign will come from the bottom up, not from the top down."

And in a follow-up: "Typical Republican campaigns are about endorsements, raising money, and going on TV. [But we are not] running a conventional campaign. That's not my kind of campaign. It's about ideas."

From "Political Wire"

According to a Taegan Goddard post over at Political Wire:

"A new Strategic Vision poll in Florida finds Gov. Charlie Crist (R) crushing Marco Rubio (R) in a Republican Senate primary, 59% to 22%. ... In general election match ups, Crist runs way ahead of Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL), 59% to 29%. With Rubio as the GOP Senate nominee, Rubio edges Meek, 31% to 30% with 39% undecided."

Corrine Brown

Member of Congress Corrine Brown (D-FL3) has formed an exploratory committee regarding a run for the U.S. Senate, setting up a challenge to Kendrick Meek. Brown is just slightly more liberal than Meek (although not as liberal as Meek was when he was first elected). Brown's DW/Nominate scores for the last three congresses: -0.43, -0.42, -0.42; Meek came in at .39 in those same terms. Brown has a slightly incendiary history, having called the Bush policy in Haiti "racist" and telling Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) that "you all look alike to me." She, however, is not from South Florida - something that she must believe will prove important to voters.