Charlie Crist Gets Hit From Both Sides During First Debate

DORAL, FL- The first debate in the 3-way race for the Florida Senate seat will be broadcast tonight in Spanish to a Spanish-speaking audience, but at the taping this afternoon the zingers were mostly in English, and mostly directed at Independent candidate Charlie Crist.

" You only changed parties and did this independent thing when you couldn't win the Republican primary," Republican Marco Rubio said, standing screen right of Crist. "But everybody sees it for what it is, everybody gets it."

"He's what my Hispanic friends would call a 'Postalita'", Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Democratic candidate, said using a Cuban slang word that translates roughly to a someone who is all show, and no substance . "Mr. Crist is someone that is willing to say ' Hey, I'm for everything on any day but we need leadership, someone to speak out."

During the hour long debate, Crist was also asked by the moderator Univision anchor Mario Andres Moreno about a newly released audit today that purports that Crist spent thousands of dollars on personal expenses including a trip to Disney World.

Moreno asked if he had inappropriately misused the funds.

"Of course I didn't. They can trust in my integrity because I'm an honest guy," Crist said. "I think it's important that we realize that in this race there is somebody who had a credit card with the Republican Party of Florida, and it was my Republican opponent."

Rubio, who had received early criticism for using his Republican Party American Express card for personal use while Speaker of the Florida House again denied any wrong doing, and said he had reimbursed the credit card expenditures.

The debate will air tonight at 11PM on Univision stations across Florida. It will be dubbed in Spanish with English sub-titles.

Interestingly, Rubio, the only Hispanic in the race, and who is fluent in Spanish was the only one who did not speak any Spanish to the crowd.

The latest Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Rubio with 40 percent of the vote, 10 points ahead of Crist and nearly 20 points in front of Meek with 47 days to go until the election.

Fox News National Correspondent Phil Keating contributed to this story.