Charlie Crist gambles on the left

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is trying hard to court Democratic voters in his Senate campaign. AP Photo

Adfoxie: Charlie Crist a veteran in Republican politics in Florida finds himself abandoned by his party. The Republican party, never a non neo-conservative party on the right. Now is moving more to the right, may be out of the planet earth altogether.

Crist, Just changed his stance on DADT ( an alleged closeted homosexual..humm:), his stance on abortion and other not so contentious items. Now the Democratic party has another conundrum on their hands: Should they back him over the democratic contender or not. The problem is the Democratic contender has little chance winning against Rubio. Rubio, homophobe and becoming more radicalized every day, like he wasn't already. He will make governing in Washington on a moderate or sensible agenda ever more difficult. He will be an arch enemy of the gay community everywhere.

Aaron Blake(Washington Post)

In the days and weeks following Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to switch his party affiliation from Republican to Independent to run for Senate this year, the central question was where he would try to align himself ideologically.

Of late, Crist has made it very clear -- through a series of governing decisions and campaign hires -- that he has all but given up on GOP votes and sees his path to the Senate coming with independents and, more importantly, Democrats.

To wit:

* In the days just preceding his party switch, Crist vetoed a Republican bill instituting merit pay for teachers.

* Late last week, he vetoed another GOP bill forcing women seeking abortions to get ultrasounds.

* Crist has alsoscrubbed anti-abortion rights language from his campaign website, shifted against the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for gays in the military, and in a Time Magazine video this week, suggested that the courts should deal with gay adoptions.

So far, Crist's strategy appears to be gaining him some ground on the ideological left.

Since he switched parties April 29, Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) have risen in the polls, while Rep. Kendrick Meek, the presumed Democratic frontrunner, has dropped below 20 percent in most polls -- and now has a fight on his hands for the Democratic nomination with free-spending billionaire Jeff Greene.

The most recent survey, from Quinnipiac, had Crist leading Rubio 37 percent 33 percent with Meek at 17 percent.

In the survey, Crist was winning 51 percent of Independents, 37 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of Republicans.

It's plausible that Crist could maintain that sort of showing among independents. But can he continue to pull nearly four in ten Democratic votes away from Meek or Greene?(Politico's Jmart has a good piece on how Greene as the Democratic nominee would play right into Crist's hands when it comes to courting Democrats.)

There are two issues to ponder as to whether Crist can keep his share of Democrats.

First, once the Democratic nominee is chosen, a process that should raise the name identification of Meek and Greene, can Crist retain his strength?

Meek has long maintained that once Democrats get to know their nominee, they will quickly abandon Crist for the "real" Democrat. Worth noting: There is a "coming home" effect in most races featuring a viable third party candidate but few independent candidates are as well known -- and well funded -- as Crist.

The other complicating issue in Crist's courtship of Democrats is how his recent series of moves to the ideological left -- in the governing decisions mentioned earlier as well as various issue positions -- play with voters.

On offshore drilling, Crist supported it when he was a vice presidential possibility in 2008 and now, in light of the BP oil spill and his Senate campaign, opposes it.

After opposing President Obama's first Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, he now supports Court nominee Elena Kagan.

And he has left open the possibility of voting for a Democratic Senate majority leader.

Republicans also point out that Crist sought the AFL-CIO endorsement (he lost it to Meek) and attended a trial lawyers convention in Orlando last week -- further evidence of his outreach to left-leaning constituencies.

Are these moves seen by voters as genuine evolutions on issues (the preferred Crist storyline) or as standard political flip-floppery from a politician who has turned it into an art form (which is the Rubio/Meek/Greene narrative)?

Crist, up until this Senate race, has demonstrated a remarkable ability to align himself with where the Florida electorate stands at any given time. Can he pull off the trick one more time by co-opting Democrats and turning the race into a battle between himself and Rubio?