MIAMI, Fl-This week, the Senate campaign for Republican front-runner Gov. Charlie Crist, told Fox News, that their main opponent in the Florida primary battle would no longer get a free pass from the hits he has been leveling at their candidate for months.  38-year old Marco Rubio, the former Speaker of the Florida State House, had been able to attack Crist with un-checked criticism around the state, and gain traction, they argue, without any real avenue for rebuttal. With the very recent addition of two well-regarded campaign veterans, Eric Eikenberg, the new Crist campaign head, and Andrea Saul, their new communications director,they now have an organized effort to engage in counter-punches, as well as, the ability to initiate the shots, in what is fast becoming a contentious race.

"I think Charlie Crist is desperate; he has a serious credibility crisis. He is a desperate candidate, and desperate people do desperate things, but for us it is not a problem,"Rubio told Fox News, in a sit-down interview, when asked about the new aggressive Crist strategy,that some local media have described as negative." This campaign is about the issues, whether he likes it or not, we are going to win."

Wednesday, when a reporter in Tallahassee asked Crist why he was now "taking the gloves off" against Rubio, he responded: "No reason, no reason,(but) people deserve to know the facts."

The facts, according to the newly-upgraded campaign, are that  Rubio has weaknesses on two significant conservative fronts: his Gun Rights,  and Illegal Immigration stances as speaker. The Crist campaign charges that Rubio did not do enough on either position during his tenure as head of the Florida legislature.  The Rubio campaign fired back that their opponent is misleading the voting public with distortions of their candidate's record, and the reasons for the new attacks are because Crist, who was essentially ignoring their candidacy, is finally acknowledging that he is a formidable threat to what was considered an easy primary bout for the once immensely-popular governor of the 4th most populous state.

Rubio's rise as more than a speed-bump opponent to an actual threat, took the initial skeletal Crist organization(mostly focused on fund-raising, and the general election) by surprise, and flushed him out earlier than expected into primary mode. Florida GOP insiders say Crist's vulnerability rose when, the Republican, fully embraced the stimulus package in February 2009.  Governor Crist appeared  on stage with President Barack Obama at a large, pro-stimulus package rally in Florida. The image of the two embracing during the event has left an indelible imprint for conservative critics who were vehemently against what they saw an seismic increase in a ballooning federal debt.  To compound matters, his critics say, Crist has muddled his position in recent weeks, on whether he did, or did not endorse the stimulus package, after what they say was his initial obvious support of the plan.  The Crist campaign has countered  the accusations by saying the stimulus package has helped a beleaguered state that's been one of the hardest hit in the current recession.

Yet Crist's early support of the stimulus package, when other Republican governors, at the time, like Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, and Alaska's Sarah Palin, opposed it, have fired up many grassroots GOPers, and anti-Washington Tea Party-ists, in, and outside, of the state, against him. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, who is backing Crist believe he has proven his worth on the national stage as a very successful campaigner, and fundraiser for their party.

Some Republican observers now see this fueled battle in Florida, as a  collision between establishment party leaders, and grassroots party activists for the direction of not only the Republican party in Florida-an important swing state in 2012-but for the soul of the national party.

Despite Rubio's momentum, Crist still holds a massive war chest that is four times the size of his opponent, and continues to retain a double digit lead in most polls with more than 9 months to go until the August GOP primary, a lifetime in election politics.