As expected, popular Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced that he is indeed a candidate in the race to replace outgoing retiring Mel Martinez. The DSCC is welcoming Florida Governor Charlie Crist with the above ad suggesting that Governor Crist is trying to escape to Washington to avoid a growing mess in Tallahasee. Meanwhile the NRSC has endorsed the well-tanned Governor.

NRSC chairman John Cornyn made the endorsement official this morning, casting Crist as the most electable candidate to hold the seat for the GOP.

"While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate," Cornyn said in a statement.

"Governor Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States Senator from Florida."

But Crist will face a primary challenge from the aforementioned Marco Rubio the former Florida House Speaker and a young, outspoken Hispanic conservative. Though I view the GOP as generally souless, this is likely to shape up as a battle for the soul of the Republican party.

According to Politico, Rubio began "telegraphing his attacks against Crist even before the governor’s formal announcement." In an interview with Politico, Rubio singled out Crist for "abandoning conservative principles and compared the governor to moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania."

“If we’re offering the same thing as the Democrats, but with different packaging, what’s the point in having a Republican Party?” Rubio said.“I’m going to offer Floridians a clear, consistent, authentic small-government choice in the primary.”

It really should be quite the test of which wing of the GOP is ascendant.