Crist's race for center fizzling in Senate race

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida Governor Charlie Crist's strategy of taking the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans in his campaign as an independent for a Senate seat is failing.

The slight edge Crist held over Republican "Tea Party" favorite Marco Rubio in August has evaporated and turned into a wide deficit as he courts what appears to be a fast- shrinking moderate vote.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed Rubio far ahead in the three-way race to succeed Republican Senator George LeMieux, with support from 40 percent of likely voters. Crist had 26 percent while Democrat Kendrick Meek had 21 percent.

Florida's U.S. Senate election is widely viewed as a referendum on President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, and Rubio appears to be landing knockout punches bashing Obama.

Florida's 11.5 percent jobless rate is nearly two points higher than the national rate, half the Florida homes that sell are foreclosures or short sales, and local governments are struggling with budget gaps because property tax revenues fell when the real estate market crashed.

In this state, it's a tough sell trying to convince voters that the $787 billion stimulus package Obama pushed through last year to kick-start the collapsed economy did anything to help them.

One of the rare establishment Republicans backed by the "Tea Party" movement that wants limited government, lower spending and opposes Obama, Rubio blasts the package as reckless and wasteful.

THE HUG

When he was still a Republican, Crist gave Obama a hug when he appeared with the president at a Florida rally to promote the stimulus plan in February 2009.

Crist said stimulus money saved the jobs of 20,000 Florida teachers and more than 60,000 police officers, firefighters and other public servants.

But the video clip of the hug took on a life of its own as Rubio reminded voters that Crist literally embraced Obama, something "Tea Party" supporters view as a mortal sin.

"America needs Republicans who will stand up to Barack Obama, not join him," Rubio says in his ads.

Crist was a Republican when he became Florida's governor in 2007 but he abandoned the party when polls suggested Rubio would trounce him in the August Republican primary.

He now portrays himself as a pragmatic independent. He says he will mix ideas from all sides and pursue policies that the increasingly polarized Republican party could not do alone.

In a television ad, Crist stood between two sets of thigh-high letters spelling out "Democrats" in blue and "Republicans" in red. He plucks letters from both and spells out "Americans" in alternating red and blue letters.

The spot drew attacks from both of his rivals who say the trim, white-haired 54-year-old is willing to say anything and take any side of an issue in order to get elected.

Democrat Meek spoofed it with an ad spelling out questions with children's alphabet blocks: "Who is Gov. Crist really?" and "Whose side is he on?"

(Editing by Vicki Allen)