Escambia GOP a mess

The Escambia County Republican Party has made waves in state media the last few days. Their chair, Susan Moore, invited Governor Charlie Crist to speak at their annual Lincoln Day dinner. Several members of the local party who are supporters of Marco Rubio, Governor Crist’s opponent in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, were unhappy and planned to skip the event. In an effort to “unify the local party, Ms. Moore sent them an email essentially apologising for having Governor Crist as a speaker (saying “we were sort of handed Goveror Crist”) and promising the Rubio supporters that in exchange for their support of the event she would work to stage an event featuring Mr. Rubio.

The Rubio supporters forwarded Ms. Moore’s email to the media, which proceeded to mock her and the local party. In an attempt to save face, Ms. Moore then issued a press release saying that her original email was “misconstrued” and that she had personally asked Governor Crist to speak (i.e. was not “handed” him) and that the local party was “thrilled” to have him.

Check out Ms. Moore’s original email and her follow-up press release, both at the St. Petersburg Times political blog The Buzz.