In the final throes of a long battle for a U.S. Senate seat, some are doubting Gov. Charlie Crist has any realistic chance of pulling out a win. But that isn't stopping the no-party candidate from projecting an air of confidence.
"When it comes to this race, there's only one candidate who can both win in November and crash the tea party," he told a small gaggle of reporters just before a swearing-in ceremony for a Broward circuit judge.
While three leading candidates push hard for the finish line, Crist's focus seems to be less on Democrat Kendrick Meek and more on the Republican front-runner, Marco Rubio.
"They don't want a candidate like Marco, who wants to punish women by overturning Roe vs. Wade, punish seniors by taking away their benefits, and not do what's right for teachers," he said.
While Rubio spends most of his focus on economic issues like repealing the health-care legislation and preventing tax increases in 2011, Crist focused much of his attention Friday on themes of abortion, Social Security and education.
Over the past few weeks, Crist's former friends and political allies have been denouncing the governor for attack ads he made about Marco Rubio's intentions to fix Social Security. Former Sen. Connie Mack said Crist's attack ads are "false and dishonest."
Still, answering reporters' questions, Crist refused to back off his claims that Rubio wants to cut benefits of current seniors and raise the retirement age.
"[Rubio] said all these things need to be on the table," Crist said. "You know, privatization of Social Security. What is that for, to send it to his Wall Street buddies that raised him all the money for his campaign?"
While Rubio has stated that "all options must be on the table," he has made it clear that he does not want to impact seniors now, but suggests allowing 20 or 30 years before adjusting benefit levels so the younger generation can prepare for the changes.
Though some believe Social Security is on an unsustainable path, Crist defended it, calling it "the one program that's working in Washington and typical of Washington politicians like Marco, they want to attack it."
Recent financial reports suggest the governor is low on funds and may not have enough money to finish out the remaining days with a strong media blitz. But Crist says he's not worried.
"We've got plenty of funds to run those ads through the finish line," he said. "We already made the buy."
