Ben Smith (Politico) reporting that Crist has pulled ads of TV

[Perky]

Crist pulls ads

Marco Rubio aide Todd Harris emails that Charlie Crist has pulled his ads off television, and Senator George LeMieux finds himself in a very complicated position.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Crist_pulls_ads.html?showall

[RockaFowler]

1. Where was Crist airing??

I work at the #1 station in Florida and we haven't gotten a Charlie Crist buy yet

[madfloridian]

2. Saw several ads against Rubio. Pretty powerful

[monmouth]

3. I'm thinking the decision to go Ind is very close. He's had very

positive feedback from both Independents and Dems on doing this. Here's hoping...Rubio scares me to no end...

[DCBob]

8. MSNBC said Oralndo and Tampa Bay..

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/04/19/2273919.aspx

[WI_DEM]

4. I wonder if this means he will pull out altogether or run as an indie?

[jenmito]

5. I just hope Rubio loses. That would be a HUGE loss for the teabaggers. n/t

[flpoljunkie]

6. St. Pete Times' Buzz blog has the story...

April 19, 2010
Crist pulls ads; LeMieux dismisses indy talk

The Marco Rubio campaign says Charlie Crist has halted all its TV advertising in the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets where the anti-Rubio spots were airing. That's presumably a sign that Crist has decided to marshal his resources for later or perhaps drop out altogether.

Meanwhile George LeMieux just appeared on The Daily Rundown on MSNBC and dismissed the prospect of Crist dropping out of the GOP primary and running as a no party affiliation candidate.

"I have every reason to believe that Charlie Crist is running as a Republican and this independent thing will not happen," LeMieux said.

LeMieux spoke to Crist this weekend. He said, bizarrely, that the independent question "didn't even come up."

Really?! You were his campaign manager, chief of staff, close friend, and you didn't mention the topic that the political universe is talking about?

UPDATE: Campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said, "We don't comment on campaign tactics but like any campaign our television buy is constantly being adjusted and shifted."

Posted by Adam Smith at 09:47:46 AM on April 19, 2010

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/04/crist-pulls-ads-lemieux-dismisses-indy-talk.html

[DCBob]

7. Repubs are all boohooing the talk about Crist (I) and desperately trying to make it not happen..

because they know there are major political implications... all of them not good for the GOP.

[Junkie Brewster]

9. Man, I hope he runs as an independant

It would be good for Florida, and good for the teabaggers. Run Charlie run!

[DCBob]

10. It sure would throw a huge monkey wrench in the teabagger machine..

They are freaking out about it.

[Thrill]

11. Damn all the Republicans jumped on Rubio

Crist should run Indy just for the hell of it

[fugop]

12. Argh

They probably bought him off. I'd love to see him run as an indy, since the GOP totally screwed him over by backing Rubio the wackjob ... but I'm guessing they bought him off so he wouldn't run at this time. Just to try to push the "Look! We're united!" picture.

[jenmito]

13. If that were the case, he'd probably make an announcement. Pulling his ads doesn't

mean he won't run at all.

[DCBob]

14. He's gonna run Indy.. pulling the ads makes sense..

They need to retool his whole campaign, especially his ads, to focus on an Indy run..