Is Charlie Crist A Real Democrat-- Or Just An Opportunist?

Good time Charlie and Nan Rich-- only one is a Democrat

In recent weeks, we met two congressional candidates, Jason Thigpen (D-NC) and Michael Cole (D-TX), running, respectively, againstRepublican incumbents Walter Jones and Steve Stockman. Both are recent converts to the Democratic Party. Thigpen was a Republican and Cole was a Libertarian. Each went through a personal oddessey that awoke them to the fact that their values were in line with those of the Democratic Party. Switching for each may not have been easy, but it was very natural. Neither had to change the platforms they were already running on. Thigpen, for example, was a little out of place in a Republican primary where he was arguing in favor of women's Choice and marriage equality for LGBT North Carolinians-- and fighting against voter suppression instituted by the Republican-led state legislature. His public positions had already marked him as "different" than other Republicans and on top of that, in 2012 he found a Democratic incumbent preferable to a right-wing extremist the GOP was running and he helped the Democrat win in an extremely right race.

That said, Florida Republicans have a history of switching to the Democratic Party for opportunism-- in the expectation of winning office. In 2006 Rahm Emanuel recruited lifelong Republican Tim Mahoney to switch parties and run as a Democrat against the about-to-be-outed Mark Foley. Emanuel waited until it would be too late to get Foley's name off the ballot before he leaked to the press that Foley had been molesting underage boy pages. His newly minted "Democrat" won, joined the Blue Dogs, voted with the GOP on almost every important issue and then got into his own sex scandal and was defeated the following year. Following in Emanuel's footsteps, Steve Israel, recruited his own lifelong Republican, Patrick Murphy, to run for the seat. He also won and, a "New Dem," has basically amassed a Republican-friendly voting record-- as well as encouraging other weak-minded freshmen that "bipartisanship" is the way to go, instead of sticking with progressive values he was never taught and has no understanding of. And that brings us to one of Murphy's biggest backers-- another lifelong Republican who was basically driven out of his Tea Party-dominated party and "evolved" into another opportunistic careerist Democrat: Charlie Murphy. In Sunday's Miami Herald, Carl Hiaasen explains why he doesn't deserve a free pass from actual Democrats. But he isn;t wary of Crist because of his values, just because he's a typical politician. And because "we ended up with Scott because Charlie left the job. He doesn’t get a free pass back to Tallahassee without some explaining." And not a word about Nan Rich, the actual Democrat who wants to run against Rick Scott.

Good-time Charlie Crist is back.

He wants to be governor again, and polls show he would beat Rick Scott if the election were held today.

Big deal. Richie Incognito would beat Scott if the election were held today.

The polls don’t mean much because Scott, although one of the most unpopular governors ever, is about to spend $100 million to get re-elected. Anybody who thinks Florida voters won’t get fooled again has been dipping into the bath salts.

Despite a stumbling first term, Scott’s prospects for 2014 are much better than they were in 2010.

Back then he was a political newcomer with zero charisma, zero credentials for public office and a ton of money. Today he’s a sitting governor with zero charisma, zero credentials for public office and even more money.

During the last campaign, Scott spent about $75 million of his own dough, having made a fortune presiding over a healthcare conglomerate that perpetrated one of the largest Medicare frauds since the beginning of Medicare.

In a sane and sensible place, that’s a résumé that would kill a person’s chances for high office. But not in Florida, the eternal land of suckers.

This time around, Scott will have the full backing of the Republican establishment, which basically shunned him in 2010, and a richer war chest for attacking Charlie Crist.

And Charlie definitely has weak spots.

He is relentlessly likeable, and oddly, that’s part of the problem. Crist so avidly wants to be liked by every human soul that his core policy beliefs are difficult to define.

This isn’t an uncommon trait in politicians, but during contentious and divided times voters yearn for candidates with a clear identity. For better or worse, Scott has made his priorities well known-- the business community comes first, and everybody else is a distant second.

Crist has been criticized for being too politically ambitious-- again, not a rare quirk among candidates. However, a case could be made that his impulsive ambitions changed the course of Florida, and not for the better.

The fact is he made Rick Scott possible.

After one term as governor, Crist left Tallahassee to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010. Back then Florida’s economy was gasping, as it was nationwide, and Crist looked like he was walking away from a hard job at the worst time just to elevate his career.

His departure opened the door for Scott, who rolled to the governor’s mansion on a Tea Party upswell and an advertising blitz financed by his staggering personal bankroll.

Meanwhile, Crist, who was slipping in the polls, decided to drop out of the GOP Senate primary race and run as an independent against Marco Rubio. It was a cockeyed strategy that split the moderate vote, ensuring Crist’s own defeat as well as that of the Democratic candidate, Kendrick Meek.

No one in Florida was surprised last year when Crist switched his party affiliation to Democrat, or when he announced last week that he was running for governor again.

Scott wasted no time launching the first wave of attack ads against Crist portraying him as a flip-flopper, among other things.