http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100817023
Oh great, just what we need; Rubio leading the charge for drilling in Florida waters; watch out for this guy–he’s dangerous. DV
KRIS WERNOWSKY * KWERNOWSKY@PNJ.COM * AUGUST 17, 2010
Senate hopeful Marco Rubio believes the option of offshore drilling isn’t a dead issue for Florida.
He said the issue has to be framed as one of energy independence and national security.
Rubio brought his stump speech to a group of 50 supporters at McGuire’s Irish Pub in Pensacola on Tuesday, touching on issues ranging from the oil spill and health care to religious freedom and immigration.
With the region still stinging from a ruined tourism season, with hotels still empty and a question mark over the safety of fish in the bountiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Rubio said a measured and safer approach to drilling will help the nation ween itself off foreign oil.
Rubio’s solution to the spoiled tourism season includes a business incubation program similar to one subsidized by the federal government after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
“Unfortunately, this has wiped out the tourism season, the hundred days a year where northwest Florida really benefits from visitors,” he said. “There’s no way to recover from that other than concentrate on creating initiatives here locally”
Judy DeCrescenzo, 59, of Pensacola asked Rubio to weigh in on a controversial plan to build an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center.
With Meek as the Democratic nominee, the poll shows Rubio, a Republican, leading a three-way race against Meek and Crist by a statistically significant margin — Rubio 38 percent, Crist 33 percent, Meek 18 percent and 11 percent undecided.
With Greene as the Democratic nominee, Crist remains in first place, but by a margin so narrow it’s a statistical tie — Crist 39 percent, Rubio 38 percent, Greene 12 percent and 11 percent undecided.
In the Democratic primary, Meek leads Greene by 40 percent to 26 percent, with 6 percent choosing other candidates and 28 percent still undecided.
Special thanks to Richard Charter