May 12, 2009 1:18 pm US/Eastern
DeFede: Charlie Crist To Tallahassee: Drop Dead
DORAL (CBS4) ―
Florida Governor Charlie Crist made it official Tuesday, he's done with Tallahassee. Charlie's ready to go prime time and move to Washington where he and the new wife can dine in fancy restaurants and attend swank cocktail parties with interesting and powerful people.
Anyone who knows Charlie knows his personality is much better suited to being a Senator than a Governor.
Governors have to do real work like balance budgets, manage bureaucracies, and deal with natural disasters.
Senators, on the other hand, get to talk – a lot. Oh sure they vote on important stuff, but mostly it's about schmoozing and building relationships.
Governors toil. Senators stride.
And who can blame Charlie for wanting to be a Senator? If he were to run for Governor again he would be butting up against term limits. But as a Senator he can hold onto that seat for decades. By the time he's done with the Senate we'll be naming high schools after him.
Of course, he does have to win first. Most folks don't think Charlie will have any real problems, but you can never be sure. The real challenge for Charlie will be the primary. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio seems eager for a fight. He has already posted his first campaign commercial online, attacking Charlie for being too close to President Barack Obama.
"Marco is a likable articulate aggressive campaigner who will start off with a lot of the old Jeb Bush organization behind him," said Steve Geller, the former Democratic leader of the Florida Senate. "He will paint Charlie Crist as the Arlen Specter of Florida."
Rubio, who is naturally more conservative that Charlie, is hoping the far right, Rush Limbaugh-loving wing of the party shows up to vote in next year's primary.
"I think most Republicans do think Crist is a good Republican," Geller said, "but the question is will the primary be made up of just ditto-heads? Ditto-heads will not vote for Crist."
Geller, who has been friends with Charlie since their college days together at Florida State University, said he told the governor he should not run for the open Senate seat. "I urged him to stay in Florida," Geller said. "I think he is going to hate Washington."
Geller believes the partisanship in Washington will be toxic to Charlie's nature. Either he will have to adhere to the hard-line Congressional Republicans are taking against the President or risk being vilified by his Republican colleagues and the right-wing radio hosts who regularly feast on moderate Republicans.
"Charlie likes to get along with everybody," Geller explained. "They [Senate Republicans] are going to beat the daylights out of him. He's not going to be able to straddle the fence the way he does down here."
Geller may be right. But the restaurants are still a lot better in Georgetown.
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