Former GOP darling Greek American Gov. Charlie Crist defected from the Republican Party on Thursday to run as an independent for U.S. Senate, after months of being ripped by conservatives as too supportive of President Barack Obama.
“I don’t have either party helping me. But I need you. I need you more than ever,” the governor said, surrounded by cheering supporters carrying signs that included “Democrats for Crist.”
Crist was the heavy favorite last year, and was even among the Republican names bandied about in the 2012 presidential race. But the primary campaign quickly became a lost cause as the tea party movement embraced another candidate, Marco Rubio, and held up the governor’s literal embrace of Obama last year as evidence that Crist was too liberal.
Crist said the election is “not one club’s decision or another club’s decision, or one club within that club. … We give you the chance to make that decision.”
His chances of winning as an independent appear slim. He’s burned bridges with Republicans, and Democrats see his announcement as an opportunity for their own likely nominee, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek. The Senate has two independents — Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut — but neither had to fend off serious contenders from both parties in a general election.
Crist’s outlook in the primary campaign, however, seemed even bleaker. One recent poll showed Crist more than 20 percentage points behind Rubio in the August primary, but Crist had a tiny lead when voters were asked who they would pick in a three-way race with Rubio and Meek.
“The odds are like a million percent better than if he were running as a Republican,” said Brett Doster, a Republican political operative who managed Tom Gallagher’s gubernatorial campaign against Crist in 2006. “Now he’s free without any loyalty to any organization, party or ideology to just come out and be an absolute and total populist.”
Crist claimed the middle ground during his short speech in his hometown of St. Petersburg, saying politics had become too divisive.
“I think we need a new tone in Washington,” he said. “Our country is better than what we see up there.”
Leaving the Republicans means it will be tougher for Crist to raise money, he’ll lose nearly all his campaign staff and he won’t have the advantage of a party infrastructure for resources like voter lists and volunteers. The party that helped propel him to power will now do anything to defeat him.
(source: news meat)
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