Crist's Senate bid mixes up Florida politics

[Chris]

Crist's Senate bid mixes up Florida politics

Sending a major jolt through Florida politics, Gov. Charlie Crist confirmed Tuesday he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 -- and forgo the possibility of a second term in the governor's office.

Crist ended weeks of speculation by saying he wants to succeed outgoing Republican Sen. Mel Martinez and will become the first governor in four decades not to seek re-election.

The announcement immediately raised the profile of the Senate race but also appeared likely to have far-reaching effects at the top of Florida's political system.

State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, and Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, are expected to make announcements in the coming days or next week about whether they will run for governor. If they do, their Cabinet seats would become open in 2010.

Also, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, another potential Republican gubernatorial candidate, will have to leave his Cabinet seat next year because of term limits.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD01POLS051309.htm

[5412]

Hi,

As a conservative, I am not so sure that is good news.  Crist was one of the first governors to support the BO BS bailout bill.  Our state was having trouble balancing it's budget.  It was hilarious because they announced the amount of the shortfall and it was hundreds of millions of dollars.  They then gave the total amount of the budget.  My gosh, we were 1% short of being balanced.  Now any CEO in America worth his salt would have made it real simple.  He would just have told each and every department head to cut expenses 1% so there is no haggling, and if they were not capable of doing so, please let him know and he will replace them with someone who can figure it out.

Instead, this guy lets the haggling begin, and it goes on for weeks, with all the bleeding hearts and do-gooders pleading their case in the newspapers.  Finally BO comes along with his money and Crist appeared to me to jump on it as a way to get the budget balanced.  To me that was not leadership.

We will see how he campaigns, but we do not need another so called moderate Republican in Washington.  The only good I can see so far is it has a tendency to help insure that the vacated Republican seat get filled with a Republican.  Again, I think there will be a pretty good BO backlash, once all the seniors all realize BO's health care signed their death warrants, so it may have turned out that way anyway.

regards,
5412

[Chris]

I'm not happy about the thought of another RINO in the Senate.  I don't know anything about Mel Martinez other than his completely unimpressive stint as the GOP chair.  Will trading Martinez for Crist make any difference in the long run?

[paladin0]

If Crist can keep the seat in Republican hands, than it's a good thing. There was talk about Jeb Bush trying for that seat, but I guess he's not going to take it. I'll wait and see how the campaign goes, I will most likely vote for Marco Rubio in the primary and then if he doesn't win Crist in the general election.

Paladin0