The Quandary For Florida Democrats And Progressives: Charlie Crist Or Kendrick Meek?
Two of the three candidates for the US Senate seat in Florida this November appeared on CNN this morning, and in so doing, they demonstrated the quandary faced by Florida Democrats, as well as progressives and liberals!
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who was a Republican until he broke with the party and announced his candidacy as an Independent; and South Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, who surprised many with his overwhelming victory over Jeff Greene, a billionaire who spent many millions to try and take the Democratic Senate nomination away from him, both were interviewed by Ed Henry!
Based on polls, Meek is way behind both Crist and Republican nominee Marco Rubio, the former State House Speaker in Florida! Meek gains only about 16 percent of the vote, while Crist and Rubio keep switching the leadership in the race!
Remembering that Florida tends to be a Republican state in the past 15 years, but that Barack Obama won the state in the electoral vote two years ago, the situation faced by those voters and citizens who are not favorable toward conservatives and Republicans, and therefore would not support Rubio, is who do they support financially and vote for in November?
Crist disappointed many Democrats and progressives and liberals as he repudiated the Obama Health Care plan although he says he would work to change it in the Senate; as he refused to back gay marriage rights; as he refused to say how he feels about Sarah Palin, who he supported strongly when she ran for Vice President in 2008; and most importantly, when he refused to say if he would back the Democrats or the Republicans for Senate organization in 2011 if he wins the seat--a fact that his vote COULD decide whether Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell would be Senate Majority Leader next year! 
Instead, he said that he would do what was good for the people of Florida, refusing to commit himself!
It is obvious that Crist wants to keep his options open, but that is not encouraging to Democrats and progressives and liberals who have to decide if it is worth it to support him, or go over to Meek's camp, despite his apparently small chance, at least at this point, of being competitive in the race!
As Meek pointed out in his interview with Ed Henry, he had overcome a billionaire spending millions of his personal fortune, and that he is the only TRUE Democrat in the race!
So the Florida Senate race is a major problem, particularly for those who want to assure that Marco Rubio does not take over the seat, with what would seem like a likely victory for the Tea Party, and the ultimate advancement of Rubio to a presidential run at some point in the future!
The Republican Party “Tea Party Eight” Senate Candidates: A Threat To The Dignity Of The Senate! :(
The Republican Party already has members in the Senate that are among the most right wing extremists they have had in their history--Senators such as James Inhofe and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and David Vitter of Louisiana!
But these senators, with only Bunning definitely gone after this year, may be seen in the future as the new "moderates" of the party if the "Tea Party Eight" Senate candidates, now vying for membership in the upper chamber, achieve their goals of serving in the Senate!
The "Tea Party Eight", all outrageous in their rhetoric and record of viewpoints and beliefs, are Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sharron Angle of Nevada, Mike Lee of Utah, Ken Buck of Colorado, Marco Rubio of Florida, Linda McMahon of Connecticut, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Joe Miller of Alaska!
Only Joe Miller is not definitely the nominee, as the absentee votes and mail in votes may yet renominate Senator Lisa Murkowski, a comparative moderate on the Republican side of the chamber! But all the others are definitely a threat to be elected and to make the Senate a body of crazies and loonies, destroying the dignity and historical image of that chamber that has included many of the greatest political leaders of American history!
It is essential that the Democrats who are running against these eight candidates take the gloves off, strike out against these candidates in an effective way, exposing their hypocrisy, their agenda to destroy many government programs, their loony and crazy behavior, and their lack of concern for the millions of unemployed people in this nation, brought about by GOP policies under George W. Bush!
This is not the time to be gentlemen and ladies, but rather to play hardball and fight to expose the truth, before the American people take action that will destroy much that is good and decent in our nation!
And this not only applies to the Senate, but to the House of Representatives, the state legislatures, and particularly the Governorships, as the future balance of power of the major political parties will be determined by reapportionment based on the census figures! That will be left in the hands of the dominant party in the legislature, and the influence of the Governors who are elected or reelected this year!
With the Supreme Court already favoring the Republican Party, if the political power shift favors that party over the next ten years in reapportionment, then the Democratic and progressive agenda will be seriously attacked and weakened, and that will be a bitter pill for the American people, who are not wealthy and upper class!
The Power Of Personal Fortune In Florida Politics: Yes For The Republicans, No For The Democrats!
Florida has just seen what everyone should have realized all along!
The Republican Party is beholden to big money, while the Democrats reject it! The Republicans have just nominated a crooked health care executive, Rick Scott,who has no shame, and no limit on personal fortune investment and self aggrandizement, having spent $50 million to win the nomination for Governor!
Meanwhile, billionaire Jeff Greene, who spent $14 million of his own fortune to compete against Kendrick Meek for the Democratic Senate nomination, lost by 25 percentage points, a whopping defeat!
The concept that a crooked, arrogant health care executive who was involved in Medicare fraud, is now the Republican nominee for Governor of the fourth largest state is an absolute outrage! The idea that a man who basically has "bought" the nomination by dividing and splitting the party he wishes to run, and will find it difficult to unite the GOP for the fall election, due to such bitter feelings by party leaders toward him, is a welcome sign for Democratic nominee, Alex Sink, the state's Chief Financial Officer!
Kendrick Meek will become the only African American nominee for the US Senate, and made a great comeback, despite the heavy spending by an arrogant, corrupt stock market manipulator, Jeff Greene, and it gives Democrats hope that the voters rejected someone trying to buy the job!
The Florida results are a sign of the battles raging across the country in November, a clear cut choice between a candidate for Governor (Rick Scott) who is strongly anti abortion and in favor of bringing the Arizona immigration bill to Florida, against a Democrat (Alex Sink) who is a uniting and healing force for the Democrats, and gives them a real chance to win the Governorship, due to the split in the GOP and the horrific background of Rick Scott!
Meanwhile, the three way race of Kendrick Meek-Marco Rubio-Charlie Crist for the Senate will be one of the most watched races, with Crist in the lead for now! The question will be whether Meek can be a serious challenger and hurt Crist, or whether Crist will win many Democratic votes and be able to overcome conservative Marco Rubio!
Unpredictability Of Republican Senate Candidates Not Favored By GOP Leaders: Future Troubles For Mitch McConnell?
The Republican party leaders in Washington, D. C. are now faced with six nominees for the Senate not originally supported by the GOP Senatorial Campaign Committee! There is unpredictability as to what this means for the party structure and stability in the Senate, if all or most of the six win their Senate races!
Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sharron Angle of Nevada have made the most news with their controversial statements and refusal to talk to mainstream media!
But also not originally favored by party leaders are Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ken Buck of Colorado, and Linda McMahon of Connecticut!
The only one of these six that can be seen as a definite winner in November is Mike Lee of Utah, a state where the Republicans dominate to such an extent that it is clear his Democratic opponent has no chance to win the seat! Senator Robert Bennett was defeated by Tea Party activists in a state convention.
Rand Paul defeated the establishment favorite, Trevor Grayson, in Kentucky, and has been an embarrassment to Mitch McConnell, and if he wins the Senate seat over Jack Conway, will be a "loose cannon" sure to give the Republican leader and his party a lot of grief!
Sharron Angle defeated Sue Lowden in Nevada, the party favorite, and has been a literal nightmare as she campaigns, and will be a "lightning rod" if she manages to defeat Harry Reid!
Marco Rubio managed to destroy Governor Charlie Crist's chances for the GOP nomination in Florida, and is loved by the Tea Party, but as an Independent, Crist might yet win the Senate race!
Ken Buck defeated Jane Norton in Colorado, and is a Tea Party favorite, but faces a tough race against Michael Bennet, and has made statements highly controversial in the vein of Paul and Angle!
Linda McMahon, the former head of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) has used her substantial fortune to defeat establishment favorite Rob Simmons in Connecticut, but faces an uphill race against state Attorney General Dick Blumenthal!
A Senate with all of these individuals in the chamber would be a major nightmare for Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders! In fact, there is no guarantee that there would not be a rebellion against the party leadership, that could lead to more extreme Republicans such as Jim DeMint of South Carolina or James Inhofe of Oklahoma as the Senate leaders!
The Tea Party is creating a scenario for the Republican Party that they may long regret! 
The good news is that as things stand right now, as stated earlier, the only certain winner is Mike Lee of Utah, but all of these six races will be key ones for assessing the future impact of the Senate on American politics, no matter whether the Democrats keep control, or somehow, the Republicans win control!
The Suicidal Nature Of The Republican Party: Why They Have No Long Term Future!
The author has written plenty on the faults and shortcomings of the Republican Party, and how they have stood in the way of promoting necessary reform and change in the midst of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression!
The Republican party, by embracing Tea Party Movement favorites, such as Sharron Angle of Nevada, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Dan Maes and Ken Buck of Colorado, and Marco Rubio of Florida, have painted themselves in a corner!
Some, or possibly all of these candidates, might win office this fall, in the mood of discontent that exists in this country, but particularly for those running for the Senate, all of the above except Maes, their victory would only have the effect of weakening the Republican appeal for 2012 and beyond, and would lead to total chaos and anarchy in the Senate, worse than now exists, as these people have no desire to work at solving anything!
All they are interested in doing is "stirring up the pot", and promoting whacko, loony ideas that will never make it to law or the Constitution! Their behavior, as Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post published this morning, is unpredictable and outside the mainstream, unwilling to work "across the aisle" or even with other Republicans!
This is NOT what we need at a difficult time for our country, and the Republican leadership in both houses of Congress will come to regret the fact that they have flirted with these Tea Party extremists who are just as willing to work against the establishment leaders, as against the Democrats!
In addition to their destructive behavior, which will undermine the party, the fact that the GOP is gaining a reputation as the party against African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, gay and lesbian Americans, women, and young people, will doom them long term!
More than ever, they seem to be the party of WHITE older Americans and rural Americans, but the long term reality is that African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, gay and lesbian Americans, women, and young people (both white and nonwhite) will reject this party that represents a past that cannot be revived, and promotes a message of division, hate, racism, prejudice, and concern only for the wealthy and privileged!
The Republican party as we knew it no longer exists, and is in the process of imploding! This is a serious, and at the same time, sad matter, as the GOP in the past had much to offer as a legitimate alternative to the Democrats!
But now the Republican party is a shell of its old self, and an embarrassment to mainstream Republicans who can no longer be proud of where their party is headed!
Charlie Crist Abandoned By Two He Promoted To Their Public Positions! :(
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who is running as an Independent for the Senate this fall, is learning rapidly what it is to be abandoned by two people that he promoted to their public positions, and it does not make either of these individuals look very appreciative!
First, he was abandoned by George LeMieux, who he appointed to replace Senator Mel Martinez almost a year ago, to fill the remaining 16 months of that term, but who chose to endorse Marco Rubio for the Senate! Now it is rumored that LeMieux plans to challenge Democratic Senator Bill Nelson for his reelection contest in 2012, although the appointed Senator has shown no statesmanship or principle at all, and is obviously a traitor as well!
Now, the news comes that Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp, who was an obscure state senator when Crist picked him to be his running mate in 2006, is also abandoning his boss, and backing Marco Rubio for the Senate! Kottkamp was a nonentity as Lieutenant Governor, except for the news that he was very loose in his use of an expense account to travel, at the expense of taxpayers! In other words, he was as irresponsible in the use of public money as Marco Rubio was while Speaker of the state House!
Both LeMieux and Kottkamp will go down as traitors to Crist, who made them what they became, and with Crist ahead in the polls for the Senate race, what they are trying to prevent, his victory for the Senate seat, will hopefully be a failure!
And then when either one goes for higher office, such as LeMieux for Nelson's Senate seat, it would be appropriate for Crist to support Nelson based on record, but also based on incompetence that LeMieux has demonstrated in his short time in the US Senate, plus disloyalty!
Charlie Crist: Possibly The Most Important US Senator Next January?
Governor Charlie Crist of Florida continues to lead public opinion polls over Marco Rubio, since he left the Republican Party and started an Independent race for Senator!
Crist is gaining a large portion of Independents, as well as Democrats, who are not thrilled by either Congressman Kendrick Meek , or his primary opponent, billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene!
Crist could become the third Independent Senator next January as a result, joining Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, both of whom ally with the Democratic caucus and often vote with the party!
The question that arises is what Crist would do if he won the Senate seat, but it seems likely that he would ally with the Democrats as an Independent, similar to Lieberman and Sanders!
This issue could be more than just interesting; it could be decisive in organizing the Senate if the Republicans, somehow, manage to gain eight seats, and Crist joins the Democratic caucus, creating a 51-49 Democratic Senate!
Of course, if the Senate was evenly divided, Joe Biden could organize the Senate by his tie breaking vote! But a nine seat gain could also be resolved without Biden, if Crist declared he was in the Democratic caucus!
So Charlie Crist could be the man of the hour and the year, and in some ways, become the most important US Senator next January!
I am sure the thought must please him greatly, particularly after the collapse of his GOP support, which led to his Independent candidacy in the first place!
The Growing Impact Of Florida As A Microcosm Of The American Political Scene For 2010!
Chuck Todd on MSNBC this morning referred to the state of Florida as a microcosm of the American political scene for 2010!
The Florida political scene includes the role of independent candidacies (Governor Charlie Crist); the impact of "outsiders" becoming factors (Rick Scott and Jeff Greene); the battle within the major party structures (Bill McCollum vs. Rick Scott in the Republican party and Kendrick Meek vs. Jeff Greene in the Democratic Party); the impact of the Tea Party Movement (Marco Rubio); the effects of the Great Recession (mortgage foreclosures and effects of the BP Oil Spill on the economy); and the constant change in the Florida electorate due to immigration and population growth and migration!
As the late Tim Russert once said, Florida has become the center of American politics in so many ways, as it has become the fourth largest state, on its way to number three, although delayed a bit by the Great Recession in its population boom!
So the primaries on August 24 and the elections on November 2 will be closely watched as barometers of the American political future in so many ways!
Democrats Shifting Toward Charlie Crist Due To Kendrick Meek-Jeff Greene Primary Battle!
It is amazing how Charlie Crist seems to be a "cat with nine lives!"
Two years ago, Crist was seen as being on the short list for Vice Presidential running mate for Senator John McCain!
His ratings as Florida Governor were very high, and he was hailed as one of the best governors in the nation!
Then, Crist decided not to run for a second term as Governor, and instead to cast his future in running to replace retiring Senator Mel Martinez. But meanwhile, he appointed a close friend and supporter, George LeMieux, to finish up the 16 months of the unexpired term.
But then, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio challenged Crist for the GOP nomination, and gained the backing of the Tea Party Movement, and suddenly surged ahead of Crist in public opinion polls in an unprecedented way!
So Crist was faced with the humiliation that he was likely to lose the Senate Republican nomination, and many Republicans endorsed Rubio, including John McCain and Crist's appointee, LeMieux!
As a result, Crist bolted the Republican party at the end of April, declaring an Independent race. Since then, he has vetoed two bills that have gained him major kudos from Independents and Democrats, one on teacher tenure and the other on abortion restrictions!
Meanwhile, the supposed Democratic nominee for the Senate, Congressman Kendrick Meek, suddenly had a major challenge from a billionaire named Jeff Greene, who came out of "nowhere" and has become a real threat to Meek and the party, which has no interest in backing a man who benefited big time from the housing collapse, and has been associated with controversial people, including Heidi Fleiss and Mike Tyson!
The thought that an extremely wealthy person with no political experience, but with an image of being a manipulator on Wall Street, being the Democratic nominee, has turned off many Democrats who are ready to jump to support of Crist, some openly, some behind the scenes!
In recent polls, Crist leads Rubio, with Meek way behind, and with Jeff Greene the "menace" in the background. Crist is looking more and more appealing, and it seems clear that IF Crist were to win the Senate seat, he would fit a role similar to Joe Lieberman, as an Independent who would ally with the Democrats.
Crist's moderate views are becoming more liberal, and he is a very appealing candidate to many Democrats, so to read him out as having a chance to be the next Senator from Florida is NOT a wise gamble!
It seems more and more likely that Charlie Crist may be the only way to prevent Marco Rubio and his Tea Party Movement, and right wing conservative views from representing Florida in the US Senate!
Charlie Crist’s Major Problem As An Independent Candidate For The Senate
Now that Charlie Crist, Florida's Republican Governor, has declared as an Independent candidate in this year's Senate race, he faces a major problem!
Unfortunately, it will take major efforts and commitment by Florida voters who wish to vote for him on the November ballot, as his name will be at the bottom or near bottom of all the candidates on the list, the usual place for an independent candidate with no party line!
Since there will be minor parties listed along with Republican nominee Marco Rubio and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek, there will be growing concern that many voters might be confused by not finding Crist's name right below them, or even near them on the voting cards!
Will Crist, who is certainly well known statewide, be able to motivate enough Floridians to go out of their way, search for his name, and actually vote for him? Will Crist be able to gain enough of a share of Republican voters? Will Democrats be willing to abandon their candidate, a Congressman in many ways a version of Barack Obama when he ran for the Illinois Senate seat in 2004, all because Crist vetoed a teacher bill that, therefore, preserved tenure and security for educators in his state, people who often would vote for Democrats? Will moderates and independent registered voters come over to Crist in large enough numbers to make him the winner with only 34-37 percent of the state's total vote?
Finally, will Crist be able to raise enough money as an Independent to run a media campaign, so urgent in a state with so many media markets, and such a wide variety in voter characteristics in north Florida and the Panhandle; Central Florida and the I-4 corridor from Tampa and St. Petersburg to Orlando; and in the voter rich areas of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties in South Florida?
Also, with Florida still in many ways a "Southern" and conservative state despite its large percentage of people who have migrated from the North and from Cuba, will it be willing to elect an African American senator in Kendrick Meek, or a Cuban American senator in Marco Rubio, when they have a chance to support a moderate, white "Anglo" Governor, who was very popular until recently?
It is true that Senator Mel Martinez, who resigned after four and a half years in office in the fall of 2009, was Cuban American, but he only had to deal with a white Anglo woman Democrat as his opponent! With Crist in the race, the whole dynamics of the race changes dramatically!
But again, will enough citizens be willing and able to look hard for Crist's name near the bottom of the ballots? That is still the leading question of this race, above all others!