Gov. Charlie Crist told Florida political reporter Gary Fineout that he would not leave the GOP in the face of a primary loss to Marco Rubio:

Crist said any talk about party-switching “probably comes from my opponents. It’s the silly season.”
When asked about whether he plans to switch parties, he replied: “I sure don’t. I’m happy where I am and how things are going.”

That’s consistent with what Crist told Bob Costa in the profile we’re running today.

UPDATE: More on Crist and party-switching, plus an open comment thread, over at The Feed.

UPDATE II: Crist camp sees a conspiracy afoot?

A spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R) U.S. Senate campaign tells CQ Politics she’s noticed a pattern when it comes to the “patently false” rumors that Crist is planning to drop his GOP label and run as an Independent this fall.
She says those rumors tend to coincide with bad news days for Crist’s GOP primary rival, Marco Rubio (R).

UPDATE III: The Miami Herald wonders whether Crist’s (?) leak of private GOP records showing Rubio using the party’s credit card for personal purchases will back-fire.