Free Republic

Really. I don’t know what else to call it. But in just seven brief, fleeting seconds, Charlie Crist manages to show us what the rock bottom of political lame-assery looks like: Smug mixed with deer-in-the-headlights fear mixed with vulgar, instinctive political calculation, topped with a sickly orange glow. Just watch. With an empty stomach, of course:

St. Pete Times: Charlie Crist says he would vote to confirm Elena Kagan, but talking to the Miami Herald editorial board the other day struggled to recall specifically why he opposed Sonia Sotomayor.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, the newly minted independent candidate for the Senate, canceled a sit-down interview that was to have aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Host Candy Crowley said on the program that “we had requested them from both Governor Crist and Marco Rubio. After initially agreeing to a sit- down interview, Crist backed out.” She did air an interview with Rubio. Crist lost much of his campaign staff last week after dropping out of the Republican primary, where he was trailing Rubio by double digits, to run as an independent. His campaign did not return a...

I’ve got the “Rubio for Senate” donation form all filled out. All I’m waiting for is the official announcement to click the “contribute” button. Make my day, Charlie. It may be the worst-kept secret in American politics today, and it’s apparently about to become a reality. Reliable sources informed me today that embattled Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whose early lead in his US Senate Republican primary race against former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has essentially reversed itself in the polls, is preparing to announce sooner rather than later that he will leave the GOP and continue his run for...

Florida's education team, led by Gov. Charlie Crist, will make its pitch Tuesday in Washington for why the state should get a whopping $1 billion piece of a $4 billion federal grant intended to reward states for pursuing aggressive school reform. Of the finalists in the Race to the Top program, Florida is asking for the most money. "I am confident our past and present progress in increasing student achievement and school accountability will present a very persuasive case for Florida's success," Crist said in a statement released before the trip. Florida is competing against 14 other states and the...

Ex-FL House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) is having a very good day. Rubio, running to FL Gov. Charlie Crist's (R) right in the GOP primary for Sen. George LeMieux's (R) open seat, got a political boost today when George P. Bush, son of Gov. Jeb Bush and nephew of ex-Pres. George W. Bush, endorsed his bid. Jeb Bush is said to prefer Rubio over Crist, and though he likely wouldn't make an endorsement himself, many of his former political aides are quietly working on Rubio's behalf. George P. Bush and his brother, Jeb Bush Jr., will hold a fundraiser for...

CLEARWATER, Florida -- Well OK, you can come home gain. But they don't have to vote for you when you do. Moderate Florida Governor Charlie Crist learned this Monday night. Save for his time in public office in Tallahassee, Crist has lived most of his life in St. Petersburg, the largest city in Pinellas County. He represented Pinellas in the Florida Senate for six years in the nineties. But in a straw vote Monday night, members of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee decided by a vote of 106 to 54 that they would rather conservative former Florida House Speaker...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Charlie Crist is saying he'll fight for "pro-life" legislation if he's elected to the U.S. Senate after opposing changes to abortion laws during his run for governor. His campaign said Friday the "pro-life" legislation that Crist would support includes seeking federal tax credits for families who adopt. The campaign wouldn't say if he'd seek abortion restrictions. Four years ago, Crist said he wanted to change hearts, not abortion laws.

Question: Is Florida Governor Charlie Crist a Republican or a Democrat? 
Answer: Yes. Depending on what's popular at the moment. Just as one can estimate the time of day by watching heliotropic plants as they lean toward the sun, one can tell an election is nearing when Charlie "Rorschach" Crist starts changing his positions, leaning in the direction of what's popular. Taking a page from Flip Wilson's Reverend Leroy, Crist belongs to the Political Church of What's Happenin' Now." He's rotating his political stock, to insure that the freshest ideas from polls and focus groups are what he puts out...

Six months ago, Charlie Crist looked like he could do no wrong. He had built a remarkable job-approval rating as Florida’s governor and looked like a shoo-in to hold the state in the red column. Then Crist decided to run for the Senate instead, hoping to replace the retiring Mel Martinez (R), and got an endorsement from the NRSC within hours even though conservative Marco Rubio had already filed to run for the nomination. Six months later, Crist suddenly looks vulnerable, and as Politico reports, he only has himself to blame: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is witnessing a sharp downturn...

The press release from the Florida Democratic Party called Thursday ``Charlie Crist's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.'' The description also applied to Wednesday. And Tuesday. And Monday. And to the week before that. And to the entire month of October. Let's be clear: The governor/would-be U.S. senator from Florida known for his groundbreaking fundraising is stuck in a record-shattering slump. The only way things could get worse is if Gennifer Flowers, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the guy who videotaped former Virginia Sen. George Allen making an ethnic slur all showed up at his doorstep in Tallahassee. It's...

When a political party is out of the White House and in the minority on Capitol Hill, it's time for licking wounds. But it's also time to think ahead to who the next leaders of the Republican Party will be. Some of the main Republican contenders — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — are well-known. Others, like Florida Rep. Marco Rubio, aren't. Rubio, a conservative outsider and former speaker of the state House, is challenging former Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. There's an open seat next year because of...

Since taking office nearly three years ago, Charlie Crist has made his mark as the green governor. He organized climate change summits with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, mandated future government buildings be energy efficient and equipped with solar panels and pushed legislators and Florida Power & Light to build the largest solar power facility in the country. But when President Barack Obama arrives in Arcadia Tuesday to promote climate change legislation and the opening of the solar plant Crist helped push through, the governor will not be there. Chalk it up to politics. Crist cannot afford the political risk of...

Don’t tell Marco Rubio his primary race for the U.S. senate against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist depends on money or endorsements. Rubio, who finished his term as Florida’s Speaker of the House in 2008, is focused on a much bigger picture: limiting government and thus liberating American entrepreneurship. The impetus behind his campaign is that same wave of conservative outrage which carried Tea Party protesters to Washington and put Rubio’s race in the national spotlight. His race is about message (adherence to conservative principles), and, as Rubio says, the only amount of money he needs is the money to get...

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio plans to continue his campaign for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez, despite having a sizable deficit in fundraising compared to the other Republican candidate Charlie Crist, according to a report in the Washington Post. Chris Cillizza of the Post said Rubio will be in Washington, DC on Wednesday for meetings and is expected to "re-assert his commitment to the race." Rubio has garnered some national support, most notably former Arkansas governor and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee. Experts believe Rubio will try and turn the race into a referendum on...