Crist Advisers Push Independent Bid In Florida Senate Race

[mod mom]

Wall Street Journal: Crist Advisers Push Independent Bid In Florida Senate Race
Eric Kleefeld | April 14, 2010, 10:17AM

Could Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), who is trailing badly in his Republican primary for Senate, bolt the GOP and run as an independent? The Wall Street Journal reports that some of his supporters and advisers are telling him to do just that.

"If you were to put a gun to my head, I'd say he's running as an independent," said an anonymous GOP strategist who served as an adviser to Crist.

A key factor in such a decision is that Florida law does not allow Crist to pull a Joe Lieberman -- that is, he cannot run in the Republican primary, lose the primary, and then run as an independent candidate. Crist will have to decide what to do by the April 30 filing deadline.

In recent weeks, Crist's campaign has strongly denied any accusation that he would run as an independent. However, in this latest article Crist campaign manager Eric Eikenberg only told the Journal that Crist would "qualify for office." When pressed further on what party affiliation Crist would file under Eikenberg responded: "I'm not going to respond to Marco Rubio campaign-driven rhetoric about Charlie Crist."

Some of Crist's recent actions point toward a potential break with the GOP. Last week, Crist vetoed a campaign-finance bill that was passed by the GOP legislature. Another key thing to look out for is whether Crist ends up signing or vetoing an education bill from the GOP-led legislature, which would eliminate tenure for new teachers and introduce a new pay scale based on student performance. If Crist were to veto the measure, it would be a decisive split with the Republicans -- and could get him the support of the teacher's union, as well.

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http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/wall-street-journal-crist-advisers-push-independent-bid-in-florida-senate-race.php?ref=fpb

excellent-will split the Republican vote!

[joeybee12]

1. Crist needs to break all ties with the GOP, and that also means coming out

of the closet.

[DCBob]

2. Yeah, I thought this was coming.. Crist was on Faux news a couple of weeks ago...

When pressed about running as an Independent, he just kept saying he would run as a Republican but refused say directly that he wouldnt run as an Independent. I think its definitely going to happen and its being orchestrated. The first step is stories like this.