At least two Republican contenders for Florida’s Republican U.S. Senate nomination will be featured in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the West Charlotte Republican Club. Former U.S. Senator Bob Smith (Sarasota) and Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (Miami) will face off on Tuesday, October 20, at 6:00 PM. Governor Charlie Crist, widely viewed as the RPOF leadership’s candidate, has not accepted the invitation to participate. The event will be held before an estimated crowd of 300 at The American Legion Post #113, 3436 Indiana Rd., Rotonda West, FL.

Senator Smith praised the leadership of the Charlotte County Republican Executive Committee for “going the extra mile” to ensure the candidates have a level playing field to present their positions to the grassroots base of the party. State Republican Party Chairman, Jim Greer, whom Governor Crist backed for election as RPOF Chairman, has received heavy criticism for his attempts to exclude challengers to Crist in order to preempt a primary. Smith campaign spokeswoman, Lisa Macci, of Boca Raton said, "Bob Smith is a former two-term United States Senator and three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Marco Rubio is the former Speaker of the Florida House. To deny either of them the right to participate in this primary and 'crown' Governor Crist as our party's nominee is not only arrogant, it is not only an insult to both Smith and Rubio, but more importantly, to all Republican Executive Committees, clubs and primary voters."

In recent interviews, Smith has emphasized that it was not until late summer that he decided to launch a full scale campaign. For the first eight months his campaign was "exploratory," focusing on visits and contacts with grassroots conservative Republican voters around the state and not simply raising money. "I wanted people to get to know me and where I stood on the issues before asking for financial support," said Smith. The former U.S. Senator has indicated that he is inspired by the tremendous outpouring of support that he has seen from the hundreds of volunteers that have joined the Smith team over the past few months. "If the voters of Florida send me back to the U.S. Senate, they will get a conservative leader who will give no quarter to the liberals. I know the rules of the Senate and I know the issues. They will not push me around like some inexperienced freshman senator. I do not intend to stand by and watch the liberals destroy our Constitution and our nation," added Smith.

Senator Smith responded to criticism that he is “splitting the conservative vote” and will enable Crist, widely regarded as a leader of the liberal wing of the party, to win the nomination by default. “Up until now, Speaker Rubio’s greatest strength with the conservative base of Florida’s Republican Party has been that he isn’t Governor Crist. This first face off will accent the contrasts between myself and the Speaker. I am excited to have the opportunity to put my conservative credentials into the arena and let the voters decide who the true conservative leader in this race is," Smith said.