Do you have any local/inside info about whether Crist would go independent when he becomes convinced he has no shot against Rubio? That would sure be a test to see if the tea partiers really carried any weight. If we're forced into a three-way race I'd love to see the tea partiers make the difference.
A lot of young and zealous Republicans may not remember the disfavor Ross Perot did the Republican Party. Thanks to his "mavericky" attention-seeking egotistic short moment in the limelight, we were dishonored with the Clinton administration with the unfortunate knee-jerk reaction that followed, which then resulted in the second knee-jerk reaction that we have today in the White House.
There was a lot of anger with Bush SR and his arrogance (I guess it runs in that family) over his 'read my lips...no new taxes' stunt. So, Perot's third party took off and siphoned the conservative vote from the GOP, leading to Clinton's victory (ironically his slogan was also "Change." I guess some things never change except our memory).
Charlie Crist is another McCain character that we don't need, but perfectly capable of splitting the GOP. For one he is of Greek descent and surely has unquestioned support among Greek voters the way Doukakis and Olympia Snowe and other liberal Greek Republicans do. Unfortunately, Greeks tend to put ethnicity first, but I am sure they are not the only ones who do.
Sarah Palin is another "talent" we don't need. She appeals to many in the GOP ranks and is also capable of siphoning the vote from the GOP. I don't think the Tea Party is a good idea at all.
Any third party in this instance will fracture the GOP because the Democrats will stay put, and they only stand to gain from the Republican divisions. But I wouldn't put it past Charlie Crist to do us one more major disfavor and run as an independent, thereby making sure our next Governor is more socialist than he was.