Local and national news having been waiting to hear if Charlie Crist would drop the Republican party and run as an independent. Today, around 6 p.m., he made the announcement that he would be going forward in the Senate race as an Independent. Months ago Crist seemed to have the Senate seat locked. Then Marco Rubio came in as an opponent and became the front-runner for the Republican Party. With the dropping poll numbers for Crist, it seemed the only way for him to have a chance to win the United States Senate was to run as an Independent. There are Democrats and Republicans that would support Crist and it seems that this is a smart move for him. He won the praises of many teachers when he vetoed the controversial SB 6 –Merit Pay bill. He went against many of his fellow Republicans with that veto, and that is one example he will use to show he is more for the people than for politics. If Crist does lose the Senate seat, it could mean the death of his political career.
In my opinion, any time somebody has to switch parties in order to have
a chance at winning an election, they should take it as a sign that they shouldn’t run at all. To me, this is just another piece of the whole smarmy political process that we could really do without.