It looks like the Diaz-Balart brothers' snub of Charlie Crist yesterday might have been more about politics and less about policy.
The Miami Herald Blog:
The reason, sources familiar with the situation say, is that Crist overlooked a candidate for a North Florida judgeship who is friendly with Lincoln's son.
.... Diaz-Balart would not say yesterday whether the judicial pick was the reason, but he did restate his support for his preferred candidate, Frank Allman, who met his law student son when he interned at the Gadsden County State Attorney's Office.
The Miami New Times on half of the implications:
Unless the Diaz-Balarts offer a better explaination than, "The governor knows why we withdrew," it's going to make them look like foolish, typical-Pols who are only out for their own.
But what about the implications for Crist vs. Rubio?
Some conservative blogs (Red State, The Corner, The Weekly Standard) were on top of what seemed like another black mark on Charlie Crist's candidacy yesterday.
Erick Erickson speculated that the brothers were concerned Crist would be weak on Cuban policy.
That theory seemed at odds with a Monday forum where Rubio and Crist spoke to the U.S.-Cuba Democracy Political Action Committee, and according to the Miami Herald, appeared to be "unified" on Cuba.
If anything, today's developments turn the story into a sympathetic one for Crist. It looks like he was publicly snubbed for not appointing the right person.
As of this moment (3:15 PM EST), there's nothing on Red State's front-page about today's Diaz-Balart developments. The Corner is similarly quiet, as is the Weekly Standard blog.
But then again, it's a quiet kind of day... we'll see if this story's covered from A-Z.
