The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Top Rubio Staffer Reportedly Pushed for Early Florida Primary to Help Romney

Posted on | October 13, 2011 | 127 Comments

* * * UPDATE OCT. 14 * * *

Marco Rubio Denies His Office
Influenced Florida Primary Date

PREVIOUSLY (OCT. 13)
* * * EXCLUSIVE * * *

When Florida defied Republican National Committee rules to move the state’s 2012 presidential primary from an RNC-approved March date to Jan. 31, conservatives immediately suspected that state party insiders had orchestrated the move to help former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney thwart the momentum of Tea Party-backed candidate Herman Cain. Some Florida activists focused their suspicion on moderates in state party leadership — allies of Senate candidate George LeMieux and of former Gov. Charlie Crist — as orchestrating the change in the primary date. The move was seen as helping the centrist Romney, whose superior fund-raising resources would enable him to score an early knockout in the Sunshine State before Cain could fully leverage the boost he got from an upset victory in a Sept. 24 Florida GOP straw poll.

Yet while the moderate Republican faction in Tallahassee was immediately blamed for the primary date-switch, only insiders knew that a key factor was a push from inside the staff of the Tea Party’s own 2010 hero, Sen. Marco Rubio. GOP sources in Washington and Florida say that Rubio’s senatorial chief of staff, Cesar Conda, has been a major force in persuading Florida Republicans to move their primary to January.

“Cesar used to be with Romney’s campaign,” one informed source explained to me in an interview today, adding: “Conda used his contacts to push the primary to the 31st because they want Romney in.”

Conda’s loyalty to Romney was highlighted in a Politico story by Scott Wong last week: “At least six past and current Rubio Senate aides, including chief of staff Cesar Conda and his deputy, Terry Sullivan, worked for Romney’s 2008 presidential bid, establishing a direct link and a line of communication between the front-runner for the 2012 GOP nomination and the front-runner in the Republican veepstakes. There’s also a trail of fundraisers, donors and consultants who have overlapping relationships with Rubio and Romney.”

In a March 2010 column for National Review, Conda defended the so-called “RomneyCare” Massachusetts health insurance program. A former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, Conda was originally an ally of Crist, as the St. Petersburg Times noted when Conda was picked as Rubio’s chief of chief in January 2011:

Like many Republicans, Conda once thought Charlie Crist would be the next senator but later distanced himself from the former Florida governor, saying he lacked conservative credentials.
Conda has worked as a lobbyist and analyst for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and founded the Washington office of Navigators, a lobbying/consulting firm where another top Rubio adviser, Todd Harris, also worked.
The firm’s clients included GlaxoSmithKline, At&T, Visa and Citigroup, which got $45 billion under the bank bailout.

Some have speculated that, by delivering Florida for Romney, Conda would not only help Romney lock up the 2012 presidential nomination, but also secure the 2012 vice-presidential pick for Rubio.

It was Rubio’s underdog campaign that helped spark Tea Party activism in Florida and across the nation. Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer and National Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) conspired to “fix” the 2010 Senate primary in Florida with a May 2009 endorsement of the moderate Crist. At that point leading Rubio by more than 30 points in polls, Crist was seen as the safe bet in Florida’s Senate race. But the Greer/Cornyn endorsement backfired, as conservatives pointed out Crist’s embrace of President Obama’s deficit-spending “stimulus” agenda and denounced the effort by party insiders to determine the Republican candidate 15 months ahead of the August 2010 primary. The newly aroused Tea Party movement made Rubio their hero. Crist, overwhelmed by the conservative rally for Rubio, quit the GOP to launch a doomed third-party Senate race. Crist’s ally Greer resigned in disgrace and is now under criminal indictment for corruption charges.

Reports that Rubio — or at least Rubio’s top aides — are working behind the scenes for Romney, who is seen as representing the RINO (“Republican In Name Only”) moderate wing of the party, will be a bitter disappointment for conservatives who supported Rubio’s insurgent campaign last year. Many Tea Party activists who backed Rubio against Crist in the 2010 primary are now supporting Cain, the conservative Atlanta businessman who has surged to the front of the the Republican presidential pack in the past three weeks.

Cain’s candidacy got a boost not only from his Sept. 24 straw-poll win, but also from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s announcement last week that she would not seek the White House in 2012. In an appearance on  Greta Van Susteren’s Fox News Channel program to discuss her decision, Palin singled out Cain for praise, saying she was “intrigued” and “impressed” with Cain’s “business acumen” and “up by the bootstraps” success.

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Cain tied with Romney nationally. Recent polls by Public Policy Polling and NBC/Wall Street Journal show Cain now leading Romney, and within 3 points of the longtime GOP frontrunner in the influential Real Clear Politics poll average. Meanwhile, a new poll of likely Florida Republican primary voters shows Cain now at 34% to Romney’s 28%, with former frontrunner Texas Gov. Rick Perry falling to a distant fourth at 5%, behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was third with 11%.

— Robert Stacy McCain




 

UPDATE: Linked at Fire Andrea Mitchell — thanks!

UPDATE II: Michelle Malkin on Twitter:

UPDATE III: Headline from The Washington Post:

Mitt Romney attracts new support as donors
and elected officials coalesce behind him

Hmmm. Kinda like how the Establishment lined up behind Dede Scozzafava, isn’t it? And Herman Cain is Doug Hoffman in that analogy.

UPDATE IV: “Say it ain’t so, Marco.”

UPDATE V: “Rubio, Rubio! Wherefore art thou Rubio?”

UPDATE VI: Linked by Finrod at Red State — thanks! — and Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints, who wonders if Rubio is “crossing over to the Dark Side?”

UPDATE VII: Linked by Maggie’s Notebook — thanks! — and Da Tech Guy sees Team Romney replicating the errors of Team Coakley. Meanwhile, getting linked by Allahpundit at Hot Air inspired me to leave this comment:

If this, indeed, an effort to secure Rubio’s slot as running-mate for Romney, has anybody else noticed that (a) Herman Cain’s top campaign staffers are from Wisconsin and (b) Paul Ryan praised the 9-9-9 plan today?
IYKWIMAITYD.

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Election 2012, Florida, Herman Cain, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Tea Party

Comments

127 Responses to “Top Rubio Staffer Reportedly Pushed for Early Florida Primary to Help Romney”

  1. Marco RINO: Rubio sells FL to Romney for VPship? « The Crawdad Hole
    October 14th, 2011 @ 10:01 am

    […] The Other McCain: When Florida defied Republican National Committee rules to move the state’s 2012 presidential […]

  2. Habana
    October 14th, 2011 @ 10:39 am

    Rubio is still Rubio. You either go completely ‘solo’ and have no influence (like Demint / which I wish he were running), or try to engage and at least try to  ‘play some ball’ to have some influence.

  3. Sarah Palin Highest Favorables for Primary: Did Rubio Force Sarah Out of the Race? | Maggie's Notebook
    October 14th, 2011 @ 11:13 am

    […] Highest Favorables for Primary: Did Rubio Force Sarah Out of the Race? October 14, 2011By MaggieYesterday we learned Senator Marco Rubio is likely behind the state of Florida moving its primary up to January 2012. […]

  4. ThePaganTemple
    October 14th, 2011 @ 12:51 pm

    The point is, he seems to have been co-opted by the establishment wing of the GOP.

  5. Anonymous
    October 14th, 2011 @ 2:16 pm

    Sounds like a job for… The Vader Sessions

  6. Well, Of Course He Denies It: Marco Rubio Says I ‘Made It Up Out of Thin Air’ : The Other McCain
    October 14th, 2011 @ 2:50 pm

    […] (typeof(addthis_share) == "undefined"){ addthis_share = [];}My exclusve yesterday — sources telling me that Marco Rubio’s pro-Romney chief of staff Cesar Conda worked […]

  7. ThePaganTemple
    October 14th, 2011 @ 2:52 pm

    Linked-

    Blinded By The Light

  8. Anonymous
    October 14th, 2011 @ 4:43 pm

    And she doesn’t trust anyone!

  9. The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Marco Rubio Denies His Office Influenced Florida Primary Date
    October 14th, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

    […] references my column today, "Republican Campaign Armageddon," which in turn involves an item I posted yesterday on my personal blog. Also today, Rubio denied the story to Florida conservative blogger Javier […]

  10. The American Spectator : Republican Campaign Apocalypse
    October 14th, 2011 @ 6:15 pm

    […] more phone calls to D.C. and Florida, a few minutes of online research, and I had an exclusive: "Top Rubio Staffer Reportedly Pushed for Early Florida Primary to Help Romney." Perhaps not the kind of story Matt Drudge would consider worthy of a banner headline, but a key […]

  11. Anonymous
    October 14th, 2011 @ 7:19 pm

    They’re fallin’ like flies; uncovered and exposed weekly. No one to believe in, no one. 

  12. Anonymous
    October 14th, 2011 @ 7:20 pm

    There’s only one; and she ain’t running.

  13. bitterly clinging
    October 14th, 2011 @ 7:44 pm

    I had my first red flag about Rubio about a year ago.  I heard a FL TEA Partier recount how she asked Rubio his position on public/private partnerships (a la GM) and he refused to answer either way.

    The Establishment didn’t get to where they are by being ineffective in everything.  They co-opt everything and everyone they touch.

  14. bitterly clinging
    October 14th, 2011 @ 7:46 pm

    I agree.  However, I still look for Palin to mix it up in the coming months.  She isn’t the type to desert her country in its hour of need.

  15. Anonymous
    October 14th, 2011 @ 10:35 pm

    Then I guess Charles Manson could knock up a Tijuana whore and drag her across the border to give birth and the child would qualify according to your political expertise.Natural born & American born are not the same.Rubio isn’t,Jindal isn’t and Obama wasn’t.The court will have to define this.You don’t know what your talking about.By the content of your posts,I suspect your a troll..

  16. ThePaganTemple
    October 14th, 2011 @ 11:09 pm

    I don’t know anything about Charles Manson knocking up a Tijuana whore, but technically speaking, since Charles Manson is a US citizen, then yes, I guess a child of Manson’s that was born on US soil would be eligible to run for President, or anything else he might want to run for. Whether or not Rubio might or might not be eligible to run for President, I’m sure if he ever decides to do that, that will be worked out and decided well ahead of time by somebody smarter than me.

    And for goddamn motherfucking sure by somebody a hell of a lot smarter than you, cocksucker.

  17. joydbrower
    October 15th, 2011 @ 2:27 am

    I’m following several Palin-oriented bloggers who’ve been on the trail since 2008 (Stacy, of course, is one of  them!).  Anyway, scuttlebutt has it that this September announcement by Florida (and then the subsequent announcements by NH, IA and SC to follow suit) was the October “surprise” for Palin – hence, her stepping back.  But, from all I hear, she’s not only NOT going anywhere, but she’ll be working hard to elect  Tea Party GOPers to as many Dem and RINO Senate seats as possible, PLUS strengthening our numbers in the House, and electing even  more GOP Governors!  The woman is a force of Nature  – and “her time” will be coming in God’s good time…

  18. Joy
    October 15th, 2011 @ 2:43 am

    What’s with this back-handed “vet” stuff about Sarah Palin? I guess one might call the media witch hunt, using lies & distortions, a form of “vetting,” but I call it pure B.S.!!   It took a professional film maker to set in video & film (The Undefeated) the TRUE FACTS, Ma’am, about Palin, who was a very accomplished, hard-working and honest public servant in Alaska.  But the LSM tried hard to hide THOSE “inconvenient truths!”  Actually, the initial vetting process of Palin was quite thorough – that is, the committee found out lots of GOOD TRUTH about her, but it was “the ‘Net” and the corrupt media that unearthed all the lies and palmed them off as “facts!”

  19. Josh Painter: Did Team Palin Uncover an October Surprise in September? | Congress Arizona
    October 15th, 2011 @ 4:15 am

    […] it have been that they concluded that the fix is in for Mitt Romney? Consider Stacy McCain’s bombshell Thursday that Cesar Conda, Sen. Marco Rubio’s top staffer and a Romney loyalist, was instrumental […]

  20. Rubio Denies Romney Collusion in Primary Move! | Right Now America
    October 15th, 2011 @ 6:27 am

    […] 2010 Senate campaign, a few of which transitioned from the campaign to Rubio’s Senate office. McCain reported on this story yesterday: GOP sources in Washington and Florida say that Rubio’s senatorial chief of staff, Cesar Conda, […]

  21. joydbrower
    October 15th, 2011 @ 8:15 am

    Get your factoids right, Richard!  She discovered that the State of AK happened to actually own a dairy, but, of course, the State had no business being in the dairy business in the first place – indeed, it belonged in the private sector!  Period.  She worked to set up a mechanism to put it up for auction, thus monetizing the dairy to the benefit of the State and letting a private owner continue its operation (and, in time, reap its benefits/profits!). An all-around solid business proposal that relieved the State from all reponsibilities (and possible conflict of interest). 

  22. Fear and Loathing (and, Yes, Sweet Vengeance) On the Road to Feb. 1, 2012 : The Other McCain
    October 17th, 2011 @ 11:55 am

    […] the score with those RINO-hugging bastards. So when a Florida reader sent me an e-mail about those ugly rumors of a Romney/Rubio alliance (officially denied, I must remind you), I wrote back to explain a bit […]

  23. Is the fix in for Romney? Why the pressure for early primaries in FL & NV? | Wizbang
    October 19th, 2011 @ 10:38 am

    […] money on hand today, he can win New Hampshire, then Nevada, then Florida, and then it’s over. Robert Stacy McCain looked into the work that Marco Rubio did in Florida to accelerate the process. When Florida defied […]

  24. A January Primary with Same Day Registration in Nevada? The Fix is in for Romney — Emerging Corruption
    October 20th, 2011 @ 6:38 pm

    […] primary to January. Romney’s former staffers have also been linked to chicanery in the Florida primaries. “When Florida defied Republican National Committee rules to move the state’s […]

  25. A January Primary with Same Day Registration in Nevada? « The Greenroom
    October 20th, 2011 @ 8:26 pm

    […] primary to January. Romney’s former staffers have also been linked to chicanery in the Florida primaries. “When Florida defied Republican National Committee rules to move the state’s […]

  26. More Reasons to Fight the Republican Ruling Class
    October 21st, 2011 @ 12:31 pm

    […] In case you have lost count, that brings our total to four former Romney insiders pushing for same day registration in a state that has already caused controversy for moving it’s primary to January. Romney’s former staffers have also been linked to chicanery in the Florida primaries. […]

  27. A January Primary with Same Day Registration in Nevada? | | News 100wizard.comNews 100wizard.com
    October 21st, 2011 @ 8:45 pm

    […] In case you have lost count, that brings our total to four former Romney insiders pushing for same day registration in a state that has already caused controversy for moving it’s primary to January. Romney’s former staffers have also been linked to chicanery in the Florida primaries. […]