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Day Blocks Greer Attempt To Line Up Party Behind Crist

Posted May 14, 2009 by William March

Updated May 14, 2009 at 06:13 PM

Sharon Day, one of the three Florida delegates to the Republican National Committee, has blocked a move by state GOP Chairman Jim Greer to line up the national party behind Gov. Charlie Crist in his primary race against Marco Rubio for the U.S. Senate.

The situation illustrates the rift in the party between establishment backers of Crist and conservatives who consider him too liberal, and back Rubio. Rubio is an underdog against Crist in the primary, but a champion of conservatives.

Top GOP leaders already have endorsed Crist against Rubio, including Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Cornyn heads the party’s Senate campaign arm, the Republican National Senatorial Committee.

Those endorsements angered some conservatives, resulting in a spasm of outrage in the right-wing Internet blogosphere.

Day, of Fort Lauderdale, who holds the post of national Republican committeewoman for Florida, refused Greer’s request to sign what’s known in party circles as a “Rule 11 letter” on Crist’s behalf.

That refers to a party rule that normally prohibits the Republican National Committee from taking sides in a Republican primary. Essentially, the rule says the party must stay neutral in primaries and let GOP voters decide.

But the party can take sides if all three members of the national committee from the state in question sign a Rule 11 letter agreeing to it. Greer, also a national committee member as state chairman, and Paul Senft of Bartow, Florida’s national committeeman, have both signed the letter.

Day, who said she’s neutral in the primary between Crist and Rubio, said in an interview she’s not signing the letter.

“We have a process to elect our candidates in primaries,” she said. “I’m not endorsing any candidate, but I represent all Republicans.”

Day said Rule 11 letters are “a tool we have to protect the party from something that could damage it, and should be used very cautiously,” such as in the case of a fringe candidate whose public image is bad for the party.

Greer said the letter is “simply a procedural matter” and would make little difference because the Cornyn’s Republican National Senatorial Committee, which dispenses national party assistance to Senate candidates, already has endorsed Crist and committed to helping him.

“All the Republican leadership is coming out almost daily supporting the governor, and the entity that has the financial resources, the NRSC, has already endorsed him and told the Crist campaign it will have their full support,” Greer said.