Marco Rubio on Immigration:'We must secure our borders'

Beth Reinhard reports in the Miami Herald:

In response to a question about immigration, Rubio dropped his previous pleas against harsh attacks on illegal workers. He said he would not have voted in favor of the legislation -- backed by Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez -- that would have allowed illegal workers to earn legal status, which he called "blanket legalization."
"Nothing is more disruptive to legal immigration than illegal immigration,'' he said. "We must secure our borders."

Read the rest. Meanwhile, a press release from "Not One Red Cent":

[John] Hawkins says the NRSC made a strategic blunder by backing Crist over former Florida Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, a GOP conservative who is also seeking the Senate seat in 2010.
"The leadership of the Republican Party keeps saying we need to get back to our principles and talking about how important it is to attract more young voters and Hispanic Americans," Hawkins said. "Then, we get a viable, young, conservative, Hispanic candidate running for Senate and they arrogantly try to shove him aside to make way for a better connected, moderate pol who's more acceptable to the GOP establishment. This cuts to the core of what's wrong with today's Republican Party."
After [Erick] Erickson reported that he was under pressure from Republicans "begging" him to shut down the anti-NRSC Facebook group, hundreds more conservatives joined the group.
"The NRSC endorsing Charlie Crist, the man Barack Obama calls his favorite Republican, sends a strong signal that the NRSC believes it can take the GOP base's money, then tell them to shut up," Erickson said. "It is an admission that the Senate Republicans, after two back to back disasters, have yet to properly diagnose their problems."

Get the latest updates at Not One Red Cent.

(Cross-posted at Hot Air's Green Room.)

UPDATE: Charlie Crist was for Keynesian bailouts before he was against them. (Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE II: Club for Growth asks, "Will Crist Pull a Specter?"

"Charlie Crist has shown he's willing to say one thing and do another," said the Club's resident, Chris Chocola. "Voters deserve to know just how far he'll go for the sake of political expediency."

Pundette has excerpts of Rubio's interview with NRO.

ALSO SEE:

• American Spectator: Texas, Florida Rumbling About Cornyn's NRSC Move
• Not One Red Cent: The Rebellion Goes Viral!
• Hot Air: Video: What Charlie Crist Is Up Against
• Green Room: Behind the 'Not One Red Cent' Rebellion
• American Spectator: Video: Interview With Florida Conservative Candidate Marco Rubio
• American Spectator: Florida Conservatives Slam NRSC Crist Endorsement