John McCain was making the most of the endorsement by Governor Charlie Crist. (Romney supporter and Florida House Speaker Allan Bense let his sour grapes show.) Meanwhile, Mitt Romney largely refused to engage McCain on McCain’s allegation that Romney had proposed a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq. I think there are two factors in that calculation. First, the deeper you get into the topic, the more problematic it becomes for Romney. I agree with others who think that McCain, although shaky on the particulars of the one quote at issue, is correct in his contention that Romney tried to profit politically by remaining ambiguous on the surge for quite some time. (This type of political calculation is precisely the sort of thing McCain routinely inveighs against, and he is no doubt peeved that Romney should escape criticism for what McCain considers to be rank political opportunism.) Second, Romney does not want to change the topic from the economy, and candidly said so. If Romney can fight through the buzz from the Crist endorsement he may in fact have found a message that can win in Florida.
As for Rudy, his team was understandably furious over Crist’s last minute endorsement of McCain. While insisting that chatter about his political demise is “premature,” Rudy continued to try to make the argument in his Sunday TV appearance and in his campaign’s email blasts that he is the solution to the dilemma posed by the McCain and Romney fight: one has economic experience and the other foreign policy expertise. The Rudy team email missive entitled “McCain vs. Romney Shows Giuliani Is Best of Both Worlds” makes the case, as does his final ad (labeled “Clear“), that Rudy offers something for both fiscal and foreign policy conservatives. However, the latest polls show him drifting to fourth, or at best a distant third. It is hard to convince undecided voters that they should ignore the polls, especially if they find either McCain or Romney objectionable and want to cast decisive votes.
And those early and absentee voters? They now total 469,608.
