The Democratic primary season, as far as the race for governor is concerned, was a farce from the moment John Morgan became the face for the movement to get medical marijuana on the 2014 ballot. In many of the same articles it mentioned Morgan as a former campaign contributor, for Charlie Crist in the past, forgetting Crist went to work for Morgan and Morgan in 2011. Predictably within days the enigmatic Charlie Crist himself would rise, from St Petersburg to announce his interest in returning to Tallahassee as, of all things, a Democrat.
The "Cult of Nan" didn't see the freight train coming. And, judging from the overwhelming plurality (74 to 26%), did little to try to stop it. Now that the Democratic Party has a challenger in Florida's Gubernatorial race, capable of mounting a serious challenge against Rick Scott, it is time for people within the party to understand the power they hold and can exert against an individual largely interested in being a career politician, and the power that goes along with the territory.
The right understood from the moment Crist emerged that reelecting Governor d*ckhead was suddenly going to be a challenge, and began, from day one, a series of attack ads blaming Charlie Crist for the all of the woes Florida suffered at the hands of a collapsing national economy during his watch. "Why?"; because the only thing the average cracker in Florida understands anymore is that "no self respectin' Republican would run up the debt, like gays marrying, and 'be huggin' on Obama."
No. Running up debt in the form of issuing bonds for civil construction projects, university buildings, and environmental preservation to do things "like keep people working", during a slight depression, wouldn't meet the criteria of a Tea Partier whose best rationale, to those suffering in an economy hemorrhaging jobs everywhere, was a lot of bumper sticker lingo about socialism and big government. Of course in 2010 Crist would commit 'Republican Suicide' completely by endorsing same sex marriage and telling the GOP at the 2008 Republican Governor's Conference that the party should, in so many words, embrace more people than just "angry white men". Former Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, would make the same mistake of trying to inject reason into the same party, at the 1964 Republican Convention, over civil rights, even threatening to punch an interfering Goldwaterite, in order to finish his speech despite a chorus of heckling.
Despite Crist's new party, and moderate outlook, he is, what my Grandfather was, a Rockefeller Republican - a Conservative who, true to the term, wants a republican (note the small "r") form of government that works for the people, cheaply, but still emphatically serves the interests of vested power. And for Democrats who equate their party - and the frauds they keep electing - as "one" with the spirits of an FDR or a JFK, this will prove to be disillusioning unless they're willing to act boldly.
This new candidate for Governor - fellow Floridians - needs to hear from you daily, telling him what you expect from him in order to get your vote. Make no mistake about it - he "feels" your pain as much as Bill Clinton did when he moved to the "center/right" in 1994, passing welfare reform and deregulating the banks, and Obama did when he let the "Jobs Bill" of 2011 die quietly after the Republican house told him, "No!" Just because a person is a Democrat doesn't mean he, or she, is going to fight valiantly for your interests once elected. So it is up to those, who wanted to believe Nan Rich was the "Progressive Messiah", to demand that Charlie Crist represent the issues they endorse in Tallahassee, on the campaign trail, and, if elected, or else - the same goes for special interest groups. Today you can mourn the loss of Nan Rich, but tomorrow Florida's left had better start working on Charlie Crist.
