Sounds like the Republican Gotterdammerung. Will they walk up to the precipice, or drive right off of it?

It was my understanding that Steele just lost control over RNC finances & how that money is spent. Wouldn't that make Steele's threat (made when he still had control over RNC monies) redundant? Or am I missing something?

I live in Florida and Charlie is a moderate of the type that is currently reviled by the Base of the Repubs. If current trends are any indication the ever shrinking Republican Party will blow their chance to appeal to moderates by rejecting Charlie as one of "them thar libruls" just like that Arnie guy in California.

Looks like Crist is the big obstacle to a Bush revival, so this may be just the first shot in some good old intra-party warfare. In fact, Jeb's not so bad-- for one of them-- but he can't help being a Bush.

I met Speaker Rubio a couple of years ago at a state legislators' gathering. He is a walking, talking poster for why term limits are bad for governance. He is a great communicator, but literally knows nothing about policy, and doesn't care- and he is Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives! It's not surprising that his own legislators rejected his "solutions" for solving Florida's budget and economic problems.

If Florida Republicans choose this empty suit over Crist, gawd love 'em.

Does Florida have open primaries?

Susan Johnson No open primaries, execpt (from www.flablog)

Florida has a closed-primary system that works very nicely with micro-gerrymandered to prevent people from voting in primaries. We have so many one-party-only elections that a constitutional amendment was passed that allows everyone to vote when only one party fields candidates.

There is, however, an easy work-around: Have a fake write-in candidate run to keep the primary closed. This is done so often that there have been bills filed to close the loophole but the legislation has never gone anywhere. Traditionally, the write-in is a mystery candidate and candidate who benefits -- usually somebody who knows he can't gain the support of moderates -- piously denies any knowledge.

Imagine that, in Florida no less

Appears as though every time the RepuG's Man of Steele attempts to exit that phone booth, his tongue gets stuck on the handle with his cape affixed to the coin return.

I'm anticipating that one of the tactics the Club-for-Growth nutters will employ—especially if Rubio doesn't pull ahead in the polls at some point—will be to tear Crist down on the basis of his alleged sexual orientation. Unless somebody the base respects puts a stop to that before it gets started, it's going to get very ugly.

Crist seems like a decent guy for a Republican, but from a partisan standpoint I'm hoping the nutters get their way. Rubio would be a very weak general election candidate. Either way, the buffoons at the Weakly Substandard will lose—it'll be either Crist or the Dem nominee filling the seat.

I don't know a lot about Crist, so I could be wrong. But all indications are that he's a RINO. Crist should consider becoming a Dem.

Crist isn't as popular as he used to be -- he spent a lot of time following McCain around the country and many Floridians seem to think he abandoned the state pursuing his own political ambitions. The conservative, Republican base -- which is HUGE in Florida politics -- is very much against him. This is seriously great. I don't think Crist can make it out of the Republican primary. Rubio has been ineffective in terms of policy, as someone already mentioned; he should be an easy target for a strong Dem in a state that went for Obama.

They're pretty clearly prepping Rubio to be the conservative Obama, the GOP's Great Brown Hope, now that Bobby Jindal has fizzled. Problem is, they're fighting the last election. By the time Rubio's in a position to be a credible candidate for the White House, he won't be what people are looking for anymore.

And now you know why Obama loves Spendulus. What better way to get the local craven politicans to kow-tow to the White House than through the dangling of federal money?

Too bad most smart people understand that the government spends money poorly. Let the market - aka the people - decide how to spend their money.

The question is, why do liberals think people aren't smart enough to spend their own money?

Why do liberals want to take your money (ie, tax you to kingdom come) and spend it for you, if not because they think you are an idiot?

Bingo, EarBucket. But it's hilarious watching the scrambling to keep up with what they think is a hot trend.

I can't see them staying quite about him being gay either.

Here, in Florida, Crist is something of an enigma, to everyone. While he claims to be a Republicanite, many of his actions paint a different picture. He seems not nearly so beholden to traditional rightist 'pressure' groups. On issue after issue, Crist seems to be a pure pragmatist, rather than a fanatical idealogue. That's why he's so popular. He's, so far, a 'not insane' Republican and Floridas electorate, including Dems and independents, are willing to listen and evaluate. As Crist is still so amorphous, as a political personality, many voters still aren't quite sure what to make of him. I, for one, don't trust him, although I watch carefully. After all, Republicanites will say and do anything to get elected, and Crist has exhibited a high degree of political intelligence to date. What a Rubio primary challenge will bring is anyone's guess.

This might just be the last chance the Republicans have to keep from turning into the Federalist Party.

(NOT the Whigs, damnit. The Whigs died because they couldn't take a position on anything -- even once running three Presidential candidates in three regions, none of whom agreed, with hopes of throwing the election into the House. The Federalists, like today's Republicans, had no problem coming together on the wrong side of every issue, and wound up confined to one region, being ruled by their ministerial nutjobs, and died purveying truly eccentric paranoias -- some of which, like the myth of the Illuminati -- have carried on until today.)

Crist has been, by all reports including that of my wife's parents who live there, a good Governor in the classic Eisenhower/Rockefeller Republican mode. (He's puzzling because people have forgotten that this type of Republican used to be prominent in the pre-"MyNewt" faction days.)

He is also, as flounder points out, gay, and a big test will be how he handles this. If he comes out befopre the primary, he'll have a much tougher fight, but still might pull it off -- it IS a shame that the primaries are closed. If he fudges, but doesn't publicly deny his gayness during the primary season, wins, and comes out afterwards -- and it is obvious he uis doing it on his own and not one step ahead of the outers, he has a good chance of winning the election. (A lot of people will be glad to see an openly gay Senator, since there hasn't been one of them, and there are a lot of gays in Florida, as well as a lot of parents and grandparents who have come to terms with one of their children's gayness.)

If he denies it and then is outed, "Sorry, Charlie..."

But I'd rather see Sen Crist (R-FL) than another Sen. Nelson (BDD-FL).

This one will be worth watching.

Crist coming out? I thought he just got himself a pretend wife. I guess after becoming Senator and her job being done, they could get divorced, she can get the big payoff she is expecting for her work, and he can talk about his evolving understanding of his sexuality.

I'm guessing Prup is unaware that Charlie actually married the beard. No, Charlie's not coming out on his own, Prup.

As a Floridian, and as one who has only once in his life voted for a Republican, I have to say I'd vote for Charlie Crist if he'd just change parties. He is more liberal than some Blue Dog Dems already, and our party won't give a shit about his sexual orientation.

Plus, he's hot. (Okay, so I'm a superficial gay man, sue me.)

jprichva, what are you doing in Florida!? In my mind, you're in Richmond. (Okay, so I'm geographically superficial.)

Well, that article is so factual. That news is not new to me anymore. I’ll agree that stimulus since then be able to consider as a national nightmare. See what happen at present time? A lot of people are wondering about what April 2009 unemployment rate fluctuations were like. Well, the figures for April 2009 unemployment and April 2009 layoffs are in, from the ADP Employment Report. It isn't exactly happy news, in that about 491,000 people were laid off, but the good news (if there is any about that) is that it's far less than the number forecasted. That many more people can't get a payday loan if they wanted, but it's 50% less people than expected. It's about 200,000 people less than March, but it still means more people need debt consolidation since being added to theApril 2009 unemployment rolls.