Photo Courtesy Stephen Crowley/New York Times
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It was not all sweetness and light in the Sunshine State when the Prez blew in to Florida today. Fresh off of his SOTU rant President Obama jetted to Tampa to kick-off part of the $8 billion fed grant for high speed rail. But unlike his first trip, THIS time the Commander-In-Chief was not on the receiving end of a big warm hug from GOP Governor Charlie “I’m-as-tan-as-George-Hamiliton” Crist. The eagle eyes at the NY Times tweeted:
The problem, you see, is the guv is also running for Florida’s senate seat in November, and a shrewd competitor for the seat is making some serious hay with that infamous hug. Former FL House Speaker and fellow GOP-er Marco Rubio has risen dramatically in the polls, and just last week topped Crist in the polls. Some say the basis for Rubio’s rise is his clever ads featuring the earlier Obama-Crist hug and questioning how conservative Crist really is. Of course the warm embrace raised eyebrows at the time, but the hug mug just won’t die, and Charlie was NOT gonna make that mistake again. Crist and Florida eagerly welcome the $1.25 billion, but this time buying us dinner didn’t warrant anymore that a modest goodnight handshake. Harbinger of things to come?
