…at least according to the latest numbers from Rasmussen:

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Rubio leading Crist 49% to 37%. Three percent (3%) prefer another candidate, and 11% are undecided.

The new numbers mark a stunning turnaround. Crist was the strong favorite when he first announced for the Senate seat, and Rubio was viewed as a long-shot challenger.

Florida’s governor once led by over 30 points against Rubio, the constitutional conservative who left his position as the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives to make the U.S. Senate race in Florida.

Rubio’s rise at Crist’s expense has been one of the amazing stories in this electoral cycle, not dissimilar to Scott Brown’s meteoric rise in Massachusetts. And with the president proposing a budget that projects a $1.6 trillion deficit amid gargantuan tax increases for 2011, Rubio will most certainly not be the last constitutional conservative to explode the candidacy of an establishment politician by this November.