If it's true, and he wins, it wouldn't surprise me to see Crist caucusing with the Democrats. Wouldn't that be a shocker?

When Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced that he was formally leaving the Republican Party, it was seemingly in label only. An impossible primary path to a Senate nomination compelled him to launch an Independent bid. On philosophical terms, he remained a fairly basic conservative, albeit one who backed the president's stimulus package.

Months later, it's becoming more and more difficult to label Crist's departure from the GOP as simply a superficial endeavor. Either out of electoral expedience or ideological disenchantment, the governor has spent the past few days either purging himself of his Republican roots or actively courting Democratic audiences.

Crist recently refunded the $9,600 contribution he had received from Jim Greer, the indicted former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. On Wednesday morning, he campaigned in the Democratic-stronghold Broward County, to solid reviews. The day before, he was caught on camera mocking the GOP colleagues he left behind: "I used to be a Republican... Thank God."

In addition to being the Party of No, the Florida GOP seems to be the Party of Cutting Off the Nose To Spite the Face. Florida Governor Charlie Crist proposed an amendment to the Florida Constitution banning near offshore drilling off the Florida Coast for all time.

In Florida, the will of the people seems to matter less than party pique at Charlie Crists' choice to run for Senator as an Independent after they endorsed teabagger Marco Rubio as their golden boy.

As the legislature prepares for a special session with the aim of debating a constitutional ban on offshore oil drilling, a new poll shows that Floridians oppose drilling within 10 miles of Florida’s coast, and that 71 percent want a chance to vote on a ban (though the wording of that question does not mention a constitutional referendum).

But the Florida GOP saw it as an opportunity to play political potsie and slap Crist instead, closing the special session called by Crist to address the question after 49 minutes without a vote.

In dramatic political theater, the Republican-led Florida House rejected Gov. Charlie Crist’s call for a constitutional amendment to ban oil drilling near Florida’s shores, calling it a “simple solution designed to produce sound bites, photo-ops and political attacks.”

A special session called by Crist lasted just 49 minutes in the House – from 12:02 p.m. to 12:51 p.m. – before legislators beat a path out of Tallahassee without any hearings or votes, despite objections from Democrats. It likely cost taxpayers around $40,000 to $50,000 for lawmakers to travel to the Capitol for the short-lived special session.

The vote to adjourn the session, without a vote on the drilling ban, broke down along party lines, 67-44.

Republicans' arguments seem to center around the fact that state law already prohibits offshore drilling. This is true. But as Californians discovered last year, state law can be changed when budgets are at risk of being blown out by a bad economy. Amazingly, approvals were considered for offshore exploration off the coast of Santa Barbara, the site of one of the worst oil spills in American history 40 years ago.

Was Crist's call political theater? Sure it was, but it also played for the majority of Floridians who rely on their beaches and tourist industries and who fear the possibility that thirst for oil and money will overwhelm their desire to preserve Florida's beauty and their livelihoods.

At least there's a clear record now for Floridians to consider.

(h/t Beach Peanuts)

Not a surprise, but yet to be confirmed by other less..Fox-y sources:

Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided he will run as an independent in the race to fill the Florida U.S. Senate seat, Crist allies tell Fox News. The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 5pm ET in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Senate campaign has been rough and tumble for Crist, he was once the front-runner -- but in recent months began trailing his GOP opponent, Florida State Speaker Marco Rubio.

Crist has said that under no circumstance would he drop out of the race, saying he will do what is best for the voters of Florida. The governor says Republicans in Washington want him to stay in the Republican party but voters in Florida have told him they want him to run as an independent.

His campaign and the governor's office have not officially confirmed anything, however this move by Crist has made internal communications difficult because some staff are unlikely to continue to work with Crist as an independent candidate.

The governor is expected to use much of Thursday for courtesy calls to supporters, allies and some Republican officials nationwide. Close advisers expect him to say tomorrow that he looks forward to caucusing with Republicans but that is not a certainty, there are still some issues being worked out and discussed.

Rubio has clinched endorsements from big name Republicans including former Vice President Dick Cheney, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former 2008 presidential candidate and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

It should be noted that with the exception of Holy Joe Lieberman, few candidates successfully bail on their party and clinch an election. However, Crist may be the exception that proves the rule.

Marco Rubio, the ultra Limbaugh conservative who's running for the Senate against the very popular Charlie Crist doesn't like my idea of postponing the August recess if a health-care bill is stalled. He tweeted that he hopes for just the opposite.

marcorubio: Has a congressional recess ever been more needed than now? Every day hoping time runs out on bad policy in D.C.

Thanks for the endorsement Marco. The country needs help and you want Congress to play in a sandbox for August. He's a Club for Growth republican who is having problems raising money. Howie Klein called him the anti-Amato in an email to me and he has more info on Marco "Ricky" Rubio.

While talking about Florida Governor Charlie Crist's proposal to restore the voting rights of non-violent ex-felons on MSNBC today, Tucker Carlson told Democratic strategist Peter Fenn that the disenfranchised blacks in Florida in 2000 should have just voted anyway. Has Tucker ever voted in his life? When you go to your designated polling place, you need to check in and make sure your name is on the list. If it's not -- which is what happened to tens of thousands of black voters -- you can't vote. Period. You can't say "I'm not a felon" and pull the lever.

Download | play Download | play

I know the whole "Bush stole the presidency" controversy is tired, but there's no doubt the 2000 Florida vote count was fishy. Robert Greenwald's superb film Uprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election makes the case clearly and persuasively, as does Rep. Conyers' 2004 report Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio (.pdf).

In other voting rights-related news, TPM examines the issue in the context of the Attorney purge scandal.

NY Times:

Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida's counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Voting experts said Florida's move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation's biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely embraced after the 2000 recount as a state-of-the-art means of restoring confidence that every vote would count.

[..]"Florida is like a synonym for election problems; it's the Bermuda Triangle of elections," said Warren Stewart, policy director of VoteTrust USA, a nonprofit group that says optical scanners are more reliable than touch screens. "For Florida to be clearly contemplating moving away from touch screens to the greatest extent possible is truly significant."

Michael Collins of Scoop Independent News reports that the new Ohio Secretary of State (the other location of voter irregularities during 2004) will make sure that the sins of Blackwell not revisit her state again.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

KFDM, Beaumont, TX:

Early voting runs through Friday, November 3rd.

KFDM continues to get complaints from Jefferson County voters who say the electronic voting machines are not registering their votes correctly.
Friday night, KFDM reported about people who had cast straight Democratic ticket ballots, but the touch-screen machines indicated they had voted a straight Republican ticket.

Some of those voters including Lamar University professor, Dr. Bruce Drury, believe the problem is a programming error.

Saturday, KFDM spoke to another voter who says it's not just happening with straight ticket voting, he says it's happening on individual races as well, Jerry Stopher told us when he voted for a Democrat, the Republican's name was highlighted. Read on...

Miami Herald:

Continue reading »