Rubio calls Crist's Senate pick 'disappointing'

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/12/art.rubio0512.gi.jpg caption="Marco Rubio is running for Senate in Florida."](CNN) - Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is running as a more conservative alternative to Charlie Crist in the state's Republican Senate primary race, called the governor's appointment of George LeMieux to the U.S. Senate "disappointing."

"This is a disappointing pick for Florida," Rubio said in a statement e-mailed to CNN Friday. "George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor's best friend, but that doesn't make him the right choice to represent Florida in the Senate."

"Governor Crist had a wealth of consistent and principled conservative candidates to choose from, all of whom would have been a reliable check and balance on the excesses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda," he said.