For Charlie Crist, according to Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas. After listing some of Crist’s most ridiculous flip-flops, Thomas writes:
When Charlie speaks it’s if there was no yesterday and will be no tomorrow. He has always been like that, but now the tendency has been magnified to an embarrassing extreme as he seeks to ingratiate himself to Democrats while clinging to moderate Republicans.
He has lost his populist touch. His attempt to capitalize on the Gulf oil spill fizzled as he tagged along like a puppy behind an increasingly unpopular President Obama. He called a special session to ban drilling in state waters, but Republican leaders in the Florida House shut him down. There were no repercussions because BP capped the well and the oil never blackened our shores.
And last month the unthinkable happened. A Mason-Dixon poll showed Charlie’s approval dropping to an all-time low of 44 percent.
A Rasmussen poll, meanwhile, has Rubio moving 10 points ahead of Charlie in a three-way race with Democrat Kendrick Meek. Republicans have abandoned Charlie. This leaves him competing with Meek for a depressed Democratic electorate. And the Democrats are beginning to rally behind Meek, attacking Crist from the left as Republicans attack him from the right.
The people most inclined to support Crist, moderate independents, are those most likely to stay home Election Day.
It is the end. Charlie can’t run ever again as a Republican, and I doubt the Democrats want him.
Ever the optimist, Charlie doesn’t realize it. This is, after all, the guy who sells state hurricane insurance he can’t make good on because, well, there aren’t going to be any hurricanes.
Goodbye, Charlie. Enjoy the time you have left.