If Crist switched parties . . .

Yes, I would support him with arms wide open.

Specter is a "welcome aboard, now let's teak the edges." Crist is fine by me mostly as he is. Unless someone can point something huge out to me that I am missing.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

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by: trowaman @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 05:52:00 AM UTC

For the record

I made the case for Crist pulling a Specter first!  

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 06:14:50 AM UTC

Credit where credit is due

I had forgotten about that exchange, even though I commented in response.

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by: DavidNYC @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 06:19:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

No prob

I was just talking nonsense at the time, but frankly I almost convinced myself.

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 06:29:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

switching

By the time Rubio, the CfG, and all the wingnut money finish mauling Crist in the primary campaign, Crist will likely be wishing that he had switched and run as Democrat...
(I'm still assuming Crist wins the R nom, just a bit worse for wear)

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by: homerun @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 06:59:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

If he runs as a Democrat, he might even get

to run against Corrine Brown! You can't buy that.

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 07:02:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

deep thought.

So the WSJ calls Crist the "Republican Barney Frank".
http://politicalwire.com/archi...
If Crist switched to Democrat and won the election, would we then have two Barney Franks on our side?  

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by: homerun @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 07:12:25 AM UTC

I hate the WSJ

If you are going to play this game then do it right and just out him then.

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by: Andrew @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 10:49:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Crist "Cruising"

The headline on this piece is just more anti-gay innuendo. I agree. If you want to out him, then out him. Just stop the snide comments.

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by: davybaby @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 12:10:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Huh

I didn't read "cruising" as anti-gay innuendo, especially since it's a word that's been used fairly often on this site to describe someone who's polling well above everybody else-- Crisitunity last fall describing Chris Carney, ChadInFL last fall describing Mary Landrieu, and even DavidNYC back in 2005 describing Jennifer Granholm. And that's just a few results via Google.

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by: Fitzy @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 15:49:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

LMAO when I saw WSJ

Heap subtle, huh?

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by: pinhickwv @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 17:36:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

if someone could out him they would have

It is low of the WSJ editorial board to do that.  But over the years there has never been a thing too low for the WSJ editorial board.

Let's see how would it be easiest for Crist to win.

If he ran in a primary for one of the GOP, he would have more money and a higher general approval than his opponent, but Rubio can out-pure him and it is conceivable that Rubio could win in a low-turnout GOP only primary.

The same if he ran in a Dem primary with Meek also having a claim to large percentage of the primary electorate because he is black.  And unlike with Specter, who the heavyweight Dems have rallied around, Crist would be on his own.  Clinton has invested heavily in Meek already.

Running as an independent eliminates the nuisance of a messy primary but removes most of the support structure that a candidate needs to build a campaign.  No DSC or RSC, almost no elected officials, and money that would come easily if he was the nominee of one of the parties wouldn't come at all.  Swing voters are also the least reliable voters.

I think he is taking the easiest route to victory.  It's true that Rubio has lots of room to grow.  But if Crist has 3 or 4 times the money, he will be able to define Rubio and himself.  And he will be able to travel around with John McCain.

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by: st paul sage @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 16:47:16 PM UTC

No switching if we have to pay for it

Let him flip after the election a la Jumping Jim. Better to let him draw money away from other races.

And he'd be toast as an Indy. if he gets the nomination, he can count on hardcore GOP holding their nose and pulling the lever in a matchup with Meek/Brown. As an indy, he'd be lucky to pull 20 percent of GOP. And he might do as well with Dems, putting Rubio in a good situation if he could split the Indies in a 3-way.

Look at Crist's approvals. The strength and mystery of his numbers have been doing so well with Dems and Indies. Always pushing into the low 60s, high 50s at worst. And there has always been an amazing lack of gap between his overall approvals and his GOP approvals. Always had a good 25 percent of GOP locked in negative. Outside of a little drop during the election cycle last fall when folks were all in partisan mode, this has been consistent. And he popped back up with Dems and Indies after the first of the year when folks settled down from the election.

Has started slipping a little again in wake of budget crisis and property tax and hurricane insurance vetoes, but he still has strong numbers.

But he left his right flank open to achieve these numbers. Let him pay the price now. Guy's been begging for a primary.

And do not forget the guy is bailing while failing. Getting out of a job right when it starts getting real hard is not exactly a brilliant PR move to paint himself as a strong leader. On top of his muddled messaging, he is devaluing himself as messenger.

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by: pinhickwv @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 17:49:52 PM UTC

As my father always says

Albeit in a slightly different context, "Let them tell you no." (Which is to say, don't decide for yourself you can't do something - ask. Worse that happens is you get told no.)

So in this case, let's let Charlie Crist deny he's thinking about a switcheroo.

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by: DavidNYC @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 18:31:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

MN Supremes name Franken winner 5-0!

I'm sorry I don't know how to do a separate diary.

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by: st paul sage @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 19:17:05 PM UTC