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by Mark Silva and updated
There could be, in the defection of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist from the party in which he made his career, a message about more than the ambition of one politician.
From the start, this was one Republican who looked out for his own fortunes: "Chain-Gang Charlie,'' they called him in the state Legislature, for his promotion of harder work and longer prison-time for inmates in overcrowded, underfinanced prisons. "Charlie Crist, Superstar, who the hell do you think you are?'' asked the state capital press corps in a Gridiron-styled parody of the rising star of the Republican Party.
Now, out on his own, Crist told supporters this evening: "I don't have either party helping me. But I need you. I need you more than ever.''
The governor made his announcement at the top of the evening news in his hometown St. Petersburg, which also puts him in the Tampa Bay media market, the biggest TV audience in a state where campaigns are driven by TV. The governor was surrounded by cheering supporters carrying signs that included: "Democrats for Crist."
If this is a huge leap of faith for the Floriidian, he already has made one Quixotic quest for the Senate, challenging a highly popular Democrat, then-Sen. and former Gov. Bob Graham, in 1998. Graham won reelecton to the Senate by 25 points.
But that didn't stop Crist from winning an elected state Cabinet post -- education commissioner -- in 2000, going on to election as attorney general in 2002 and then as governor in 2006, with comfortable winning margins all along the way.
Early at the start of the 2010 election cycle -- when Crist was riding a wave of popularity that emboldened him to embrace the Democratic president, Barack Obama, who had carried Florida by 2.8 percentage points in 2008 -- his bid for Florida's coming-open Senate seat this fall seemed unstoppable.
Then a TEA Party happened, a grassroot political revolt powered by economic frustration and anger at incumbents presiding over perceived runaway spending at a time of widespread suffering -- spending like that economic stimulus bill that Obama signed and Crist embraced. And before long, a little-known former state House speaker from Miami, Marco Rubio, was crushing Crist in the pre-election polls of Republican voters in the Sunshine State. Suddenly, Crist's race as a Republican appears so hopeless that he is setting out as an independent candidate for Senate.
Rubio's campaign has dismissed Crist's tactic as hopeless.
"Assume nothing,'' the late political powerbroker in Tallahasee, Democrat Sen. Dempsey Barron of Panama City, liked to say. The plaque on his desk warned all visitors.
The governor's campaign tactic may speak volumes about Crist's unrelenting personal ambition. But it also speaks to a political divide that has opened nationwide, unrest so serious that it has split one of the great major political parties down the middle -- or at least far right of center.
The conservative uprising that has catapulted a conservative Rubio and ejected a more moderate Crist will not be unique to Florida -- ask Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who, ironically, won Crist's endorsement on the eve of McCain's own bid for the party's presidential nomination in the 2008 Florida primaries. McCain and Crist won that won, but they appear to be losing the base of their own party in states long loyal to them. Or is Crist, perchance, defining some new lines of his own -- 38 percent will suffice in a three-way race, and polls have suggested that the new field divides in rough thirds.
Is it his to lose? No longer. Is there a way he still can win?
Someone we know and trust says there is. See that analysis above, courtesy of MSNBC's The Daily Rundown today. And see the Rubio campaign's take on Crist below:
Comments
More evidence the Republican party is moribund.
Posted by: ornery | April 29, 2010 4:20 PM
It's fun watching the angry old white guy party (GOP) reduce itsself to nothing more than an All White Southern Regional Party.
If you're not a right wing lunatic fringe nutjob you're not welcome in todays version of the Republican party.
Posted by: HHH | April 29, 2010 4:21 PM
Mark,
You sound like one of those Mercedes driving/classic rock and blues loving guys. ;)
Posted by: HHH | April 29, 2010 4:41 PM
"Perceived runaway spending," Mark? If deficits of $1.5 TRILLION a year are not runaway, but perceived, then what would you call them? If economists are warning that we might be Greece in a few years if we don't do something about our spending and deficits, is that not alarming?
Anyway, as said yesterday, Crist is an idiot. He doesn't want to accept the will of the people and he is flip flopping all over the place. That is exactly the type of politician we do not need. Crist has no principles. It's all about him. Well, we already have one of those in the White House.
Posted by: John D | April 29, 2010 4:44 PM
In the interest of full disclosure, I gave 100 bucks to Crist at a cash bar fund raiser. How lame is that !
Charlie is the spokesman for people who have no opinion. He never says much of anything except thanks for your support and Florida is the land of oppurtunity. He knows where every skeleton lies a moldering from Pensacola to Key West. He has a book on Rubio`s pecadillo`s that would choke a gator. Rubio has had an itching palm ever since he was a city councilman if you believe anything the Hearld writes which I don`t.
Mink, the democrat,is as articulate as a 700 Sat sophmore linebacker doing his first after game interview. He will get a brisk 15% of the vote ,maximum. Charlie has many vices but stupidity isn`t one of them. If he pulls this off ,it will be Lieberman and Charlie on the independent train to the White House.
Charles B.Tiffany
Kissimmee, Fl
Posted by: Charles B. Tiffany | April 29, 2010 4:58 PM
Notice how Mark Silva can write an article analyzing the Florida Republican Party, and not talk to or quote a Republican?
Perhaps that's because Republicans would tell him what everyone knows--that Crist pledged, on national tv, to run only as a Republican, and pledged to endorse the winner of the GOP primary. Which makes his "independent" run means another politician has lied to us......
Charlie Crist's solemn pledges have no more truth in them than Barack Obama's. And that's why FL Republicans have embraced Marco Rubio.
Posted by: Bruce | April 29, 2010 6:05 PM
A popular governor, an almost GOP contender, an almost Veep candidate...Chalk up another purity purge for the angry old white guy party (GOP)!!!
And now the party is throwing a hissy pissy fit because the far Reich Wing of an ultraconservative Republican party hates anyone who even smells compromise and cooperation.
Heh. Please, pass the popcorn! And the scotch. No, less ice. And more scotch. A bit more. More. Please, just a few drops more.
I love it, this is great!
Posted by: HHH | April 29, 2010 6:08 PM
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Anyway, as said yesterday, Crist is an idiot. He doesn't want to accept the will of the people
Posted by: John D | April 29, 2010 4:44 PM
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Lil Johnny Blunderboy,
I'd hardly call the whims of the angry Teabagger Republican base: "the will of the people".
Maybe in Republican primary-land where right wing lunatic fringe teeth gnashers like yourself rule things, but not in a general election.
Here's a small sample of how out of touch with reality the low IQ toothless Republican base nuts (Teabaggers) who support Rubio are
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pilG7PCV448
*
Posted by: HHH | April 29, 2010 6:26 PM
Bruce: As usual, you are clueless about who I have spoken with for this.
Posted by: Mark Silva | April 29, 2010 6:28 PM
Florida is more evidence of major divisions and the two political Parties (Democratic and Republican) being taken over the extremes. The Left Wing Crazies control the Democrats and the Far Right Fringe control the Republicans. And both the Left Wing Crazies and the Far Right Fringe throw a lot more weight around than their actual numbers. My question is where can True Liberals or True Conservatives, because many of the Posts in this paper such as HHH, Don Fitzgerald, Roger Morris and the Far Right Fringe (these people are really out there in loony land and sometimes even border on being hateful racists) are not representative of a Real Liberal or Real Conservative, go? And there are Moderate Democrats, Moderate Republicans, Independents and even Libertarians (Don Fitzgerald who does not have an idea what a Libertarian stands for) go? Maybe it is time for a Third Party because both the Democratic and Republican Parties have done a very poor job in leading America.
Posted by: Depot- Jim | April 30, 2010 9:40 AM
Charley is showing his true colors.
He certainly was not a true Repubican.
And Obama's more Independent than
Crist. Its the same old Washington Game playing. Say anything, do anything and say what the public wants to hear just to office.
Posted by: Paul Jaeger | April 30, 2010 10:42 AM
The root of the TEA party movement is astroturf. Not grassroots. Why don't you call Silva out on this, Bruce?
Posted by: uggh | April 30, 2010 11:32 AM