Has Crist ever been a conservative? I remember after he was elected as a consensus Republican, he was leading on moderate issues like restoring voting rights to disenfranchised people with a criminal record, softening the ban on same-sex couples adopting, and accepting stimulus funds to shield Florida's people from the worst effects of the recession. He didn't become a moderate in response to Rubio running against him; he tried to govern as a moderate and was driven out of the GOP by the Tea Party as a result.
uhh....I don't think he EVER ran on anything like felon enfranchisement. That would have ended him for good. As for the whole "governing like a moderate" thing that has more to do with WHEN he was elected. Charlie Crist saw that Democrats were popular and ascendant while he was governor, so he modified his governing style to be more with the times. If he could have possibly predicted the tea party wave he would have never done half of that stuff, he'd govern as the "Reagan Conservative" he campaigned as when he was running for senate. And as for being driven out, its just not true. If Crist had decided to stay as governor he would have been absolutely safe. McCollum wouldn't have ran because it wasn't his turn and Crist wouldn't have been vulnerable to Scott like McCollum was. He overreached and tried to change his positions too fast and it caught up with him.
As far as I'm concerned, the only person in this thread who should be welcoming Crist's return is Joyce, and only because he's rooting for a native son. For Democrats who are happy about it: I don't know what you're expecting with him. I expect Crist to get more done with the strongly Republican legislature than Scott does. Crist isn't gonna push any of the red meat he throws out to democrats once he's in office. He'll just govern like he did last time: as a populist who will support whatever is best for Charlie.
Anyway, this race is nowhere near over; Its still even money that Scott is reelected on his record and on Crist's skeletons.
