Coming off of a strong performance at the RedState gathering in South Carolina, Adam Hasner, who is running for Senate in Florida, hit his primary opponent, George Lemeiux, with a commercial that paints him as a “Charlie Crist Republican”.
Being linked to the former Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, may well be poison for Lemeiux after Christ was shown to be a moderate Republican at best in his failed run for Senate against current Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
The commercial itself highlights various news reports and speeches that show Lemieux and Crist standing side-by-side, and their names are linked six times in the short segment. Whenever Crist is shown it is either next to Lemieux or next to a number of conservative bogeymen such as President Barack Obama or Former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The commercial reaches a high point when Lemieux says at the end, “I describe myself as a Charlie Crist Republican.”
Besides just calling Lemieux a friend of Crist’s, the commercial ties Lemieux directly to Crist's time in office and campaigns. It highlights the point that Lemieux worked with Christ in the Attorney General’s office and was also chief-of-staff for Crist when he was serving as governor.
Besides being tarnished as a liberal, Crist has fallen far since his disastrous campaign for Florida Senate. On top of opposing Rubio, who is a wildly popular conservative star, Crist appeared to be a man who merely talked about his conservative principles while governing as a liberal and supporting Obama.
Crist has fallen so far in Florida that he now appears in Morgan & Morgan law office commercials offering legal service for accident or insurance disputes.
