Charlie Crist leads in money race for U.S. Senate

Gov. Charlie Crist raised $1.8 million for his independent U.S. Senate campaign in the past three months, trailing Republican Marco Rubio but conserving millions of dollars more for the last few months of the campaign.

Rubio reported a monster-sized $4.5 million haul earlier this week -- replacing Crist as Florida's fundraising champ. Still, Crist's latest donations were up from the $1.1 million he collected in the previous three months before he ditched the Republican Party.

``I couldn't be more delighted. It's uncharted territory,'' said Crist, who leads the polls.

What's more, Crist said he has $8.2 million in the bank, compared to Rubio, who has $4.4 million. Crist has been increasingly leaning on Democratic donors.

``It's no surprise that Charlie Crist would maintain a significant advantage over Marco at this point,'' said Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos. ``He's been the Republican establishment candidate, and now he's seeking to be the Democratic establishment candidate.''

Rubio blew through $4 million between April and June, mostly on television, mail and fundraising, according to Burgos. Crist's expenses were far less -- roughly $1.2 million.

Here's one reason why: While the former House Speaker has to pay to travel around the state and get his message out, the governor gets around mostly on the public's dime and gets free publicity wherever he goes by virtue of his public office. Crist is also spending less because most campaign staff left when he dropped his party affiliation, leaving a skeleton crew led by his sister as campaign manager.

The Democratic front-runner, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, collected $1 million in the past three months. That leaves him with $4 million in the bank, slightly less than Rubio. Meek spent less than $700,000 during that time period, compared to $5.8 million by his chief opponent in the Aug. 24 primary, billionaire Jeff Greene.

Greene has spent his own money on television ads to introduce himself to a state where he has never run for office. The media campaign seems to be working, with polls showing him and Meek in a tight race.

Crist led Rubio 35 percent to 28 percent, with the Democrats running a distant third, in a Reuters/Ipsos survey released Tuesday. The poll has a margin of error of four percentage points.

Herald/Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Alex Leary contributed to this report.

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