Apparently someone on Charlie Crist's campaign staff stayed awake for last night's Trumpless GOP debate, the last one for the GOP's presidential hopefuls before Monday's Iowa caucus.
On Friday morning, the Democratic congressional candidate's people sent out an email that referenced a comment Crist's former Senate opponent, Sen. Marco Rubio, made about him, though it doesn't mention Rubio by name.
"Last night, one of the lower-polling Republican presidential candidates tried to insult me during the debate," read the email.
Rubio's mention of Crist was in the context of a discussion on cap and trade; Rubio said he opposed the policy in Florida early on while Crist supported that and other ostensibly pro-environment policies even though at that point he was still a Republican.
Rubio called Crist a "liberal governor of Florida."
The two former friends have quite the history.
In the lead-up to the 2010 midterm elections, Crist was set to forfeit a second term as a popular moderate Republican governor, as the retirement of then-U.S. Senator from Florida Mel Martinez placed an open U.S. Senate in his sights. At first, he seemed like he was the anointed one.
But then Nobama! Fever took hold.
Unnerved by Crist's open-mindedness and embrace of middle-of-the-road policies (and that hug! Gross!), conservative Republicans decided they wanted to primary him with Rubio, then an up-and-comer and obvious prodigy in the art of being nauseatingly glib.
Crist left the party, ostensibly over the party's treatment of issues like oil drilling (though cynics say he was being an opportunist, a label that seemed to stick throughout his attempt to retake the governorship in 2014), and a three-way race in which he split the Democratic vote ensued.
Crist is now running in a Democratic primary for Florida's newly-drawn Congressional District 13 seat, which now leans Democratic, against newcomer Eric Lynn. A Republican has yet to declare in the race.
In the email his campaign sent Friday, he asked for small campaign donations, and said Rubio's comments were actually "a compliment."
"He called me the 'liberal governor of Florida' because I was on the right side of history — trying to protect our environment and homes from climate change," the email said.
