Crist a no-show on Obama trip

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By Jon Ward

ARCADIA, Fla. -- President Obama's visit to a massive solar power plant here Tuesday was supposed to highlight the benefits of his $787 billion stimulus plan, passed soon after he took office. But one sign that this message may not be connecting: The Republican governor who in February embraced both the president and the plan was nowhere to be seen this time.

In fact, Gov. Charlie Crist was noticeably absent from all of the president's events here in Florida on Monday and Tuesday. He did not appear once with Mr. Obama and even went so far as to imply that he had just found out that Mr. Obama was in his state.

"First I've heard of it," he told local reporters Tuesday of Mr. Obama's trip. A spokeswoman for the governor later said, when pressed to clarify, that Mr. Crist "did not know the president's exact itinerary."

State politics is a big reason why Mr. Crist, who is running for the Senate seat that was vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez in September, was not eager to be seen with Mr. Obama. Mr. Crist is being pressed hard on his right flank by former GOP House Speaker Marco Rubio, a 38-year old son of Cuban immigrants.

But one of the biggest sticks in Mr. Rubio's arsenal is the governor's support for the stimulus package earlier this year. Mr. Crist appeared at a rally for Mr. Obama in Fort Myers when the fate of the bill hung in the balance in Congress and gave the Democratic president a now-famous bear hug.

"It's clear President Obama's visit has made Gov. Crist excruciatingly uncomfortable," said Alex Burgos, a Rubio campaign spokesman. "It's clear his support for the stimulus was misguided, it hasn't lived up to its expectations, and now he's trying to run away from it."

Mr. Burgos cited a promise from the Obama administration that Florida would save or gain 218,000 jobs from the $12.2 billion in stimulus funds, and pointed to the fact that the state has in fact lost more than 196,000 jobs this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mr. Obama's approval rating has fallen from higher than 60 percent to less than 50 percent, according to local news reports.

The White House argues that the stimulus has "cushioned the blow" of the ongoing economic recession, which so far has cost the nation 7.2 million jobs since December 2007, with 3.4 million of those jobs lost since Mr. Obama took office.

Much of the debate has centered on the administration's claim that their massive fiscal program has not only created but also saved jobs that would have been eliminated. Critics say the White House claim in many cases cannot be verified.

But Mr. Crist himself said in July that the stimulus had saved 26,000 teaching jobs, calling the results "pretty incredible." States will report fuller statistics on the impact of the stimulus on Friday.