GOP race gets ugly: Crist accuses Rubio of using credit card for back wax

Things are heating up in the Florida Republican primary race for the US Senate.

Charlie Crist told Fox News' Greta Susteren on Tuesday that his opponent Marco Rubio used a GOP credit card for a back wax, effectively charging it to the Republican Party of Florida.

Van Sustern: And sort of a punch back which occurred previously is that you have said about your opponent, Mr. Rubio, that he is the greatest fraud perpetrated. So it sounds like you have had a couple of punches back as well. Why do you say that?

Crist: Because he's trying to pawn himself off as a fiscal conservative. And yet just in reason weeks, two weeks ago it has come out in news accounts he had a Republican Party of Florida credit card that he charged $130 haircut, or maybe it was a back wax -- we are not sure what all he got at that place.

Of course, Rubio denied the accusation soon after. The campaign said Rubio never received a back wax at Churchill's Barber Shop, an upscale Miami salon. Though strangely, it also said Rubio reimbursed the Florida Republican Party for $134 charged to its credit card.

"Charlie Crist's obsession with making up things about other people's grooming habits is bizarre for anyone, especially the sitting governor of Florida," campaign spokesman Alex Burgos told CNN.com.

Crist is "free-falling" in the polls, according to RedState.com, which suggested that Crist's statement was racist since his campaign has tried to make Rubio appear as Hispanic as possible.

The site asks readers to mail his campaign back wax to "help Charlie out."

Polls are split on the candidates' popularity among likely voters.

A March 5-8 poll released Tuesday by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling firm showed former House Speaker Rubio leading Crist among likely Republican voters, 60 percent to 28 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. It is an automated phone poll, often viewed as less reliable than surveys using live callers, but other recent polls have also shown Rubio leading by double digits.