The right wing of the Republican Party is scared to death of Charlie Crist. The Florida governor is running for a seat in the US senate. His principal opponent in the Republican primary will be Marco Rubio, a conservative Florida legislator from Miami. The right wing supports Rubio and is doing everything it can to get Crist out of the race.
The latest gambit is a memo out of the office of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) claiming Crist has no chance in the Republican primary and should drop out of the race. “It really doesn’t have any impact at all,” Crist said of the memo. “What I think is right for me to do is guided by the people of Florida, not by people in Washington DC.”
Pressure from the Republican right is increasing as the April 30 filing deadline nears. Crist could abandon Republicans and run as an Independent. Conservatives don’t like that possibility, either. Mitt Romney challenged Crist to stay in the race as a Republican or step aside and support Rubio.
Republicans oppose Crist because he’s a moderate and most likely would operate in a bipartisan manner in Washington. That’s not on the agenda of conservatives. Republicans today are the party of “No” to anything and everything proposed by the current Administration. It’s the G-no-P.
Running as an independent might be Crist’s best chance. Polls show that although he is far behind Rubio for the Aug. 24 Republican primary, he could win a three-way general election race with Rubio and the current Democratic favorite, US Rep. Kendrick Meek. Whether you like him or not, Crist’s record is an open book. Rubio, however, is carrying some baggage from the credit card expense scandal among Florida’s Republican hierarchy. And Meek has a far lower profile in Florida than Crist or Rubio.
This situation will come to a head in about ten days. Stay tuned…
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