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Crist's a candidate with appeal shielded with a Teflon force field
© St. Petersburg Times Walk down the street with Charlie Crist in his hometown of St. Petersburg and you see something that not many Florida politicians have these days, except the governor himself. Star power. Be assured there are people spitting out their coffee at reading that. But there is no doubt about it. Hot dog vendors on the corner recognize Crist. Elderly women run across the street to have their picture taken with him. He walks into a restaurant and heads turn, and people murmur his name to each other. The 46-year-old, silver-haired Crist says hello to every person he passes. He is as polite as a Boy Scout.
Florida has to elect a new attorney general in November. The incumbent, Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, is leaving because of term limits. There are several people of reasonable stature in both parties running for the job. But most or all of them are grinding their teeth at the fact that Charlie Crist is in the catbird seat. They are thinking: How can I possibly be losing to this lightweight? That is the rap that his critics have put on Crist year after year -- that he is not a man of depth, but a fellow who has just been lucky with campaign gimmicks. Crist is never visibly bothered by hearing it. He blinks, wide-eyed, and says something like, "I guess we'll just have to disagree." Of his opponents in the Sept. 10 Republican primary, state Sen. Locke Burt and former solicitor general Tom Warner -- who most openly questions Crist's qualifications -- Crist says, "I think they're all qualified. I think they're all intelligent." Neither do any of the Democrats in the race have the same name recognition. Maybe the most familiar is George Sheldon, who lost to Crist in 2000 in the education commissioner's race and hopes for a rematch. So political life is going Charlie Crist's way. It usually has. As a crusading state senator after the 1994 campaign, Crist proved that the Democrats had engaged in dirty tricks. His bill to make prison inmates work in chain gangs won him statewide notoriety, and a nickname used both by mockers and admirers: Chain Gang Charlie. He joined high-profile consumer and environmental disputes. Jumping on the bandwagon, his critics sneered. But he was right. He aimed too high in trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Bob Graham in 1998. He bounced back as education commissioner in 2000. That race contained a rare low blow from Crist when he ran a TV commercial that brought up an old DUI arrest for Sheldon. Just then, the news about George W. Bush's old arrest broke. Crist's ad disappeared. Crist has been on the sidelines while the governor and Legislature have ripped up the old system. Bush even pointedly omitted Crist -- the sitting education commissioner -- from his formal transition to a new education structure. But now the Bushies see that Crist, whom they cut loose to sink, is swimming just fine. They will have to make very nice with him if he is one of four votes when the governor and Cabinet meet. By inclination, Crist is more moderate than the current leadership of the Republican Party and the governor. He has disagreed, albeit quietly, with Bush on issues such as private property rights. He believes abortion is a matter of personal choice. In an interview with the Times' editorial board, Crist said he supported making it easier for ex-felons to get back their voting rights. "People make mistakes and they pay their debt to society," he said. "People deserve a second chance." He said it "might not be a bad idea" to require a unanimous jury recommendation for a death sentence. Grilled on the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, Crist begins what sounds like a standard, blah-blah answer: We must be careful, etc. He is pressed for more. Well, okay, Crist sighs and relents -- and in an extra sentence reveals that he understands the core issue in the case after all. I sit up, and look at him quizzically. Crist looks back and blinks slowly, calmly. -- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.
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Times columns today Howard Troxler John Romano Sara Fritz From the Times Metro desk |
