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Politics

GOP intends to keep reins

To make that happen, the Republican Governors Association pledges $1-million to Charlie Crist's campaign for governor.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published September 18, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, pledged $1-million of the group's money Sunday to help Republican nominee Charlie Crist keep Florida under GOP control.

The $1-million in so-called soft money will be funneled to the Republican Party of Florida to help Crist, whose goal is to raise a record $30-million for the general election cycle against Democrat Jim Davis.

"This is the highest-priority state for us," said Romney, who appeared with Crist in Tallahassee. "We want to make sure that the conservative principles that Jeb Bush instituted here in Florida continue to be promulgated under a Republican governor."

After Florida, Romney said, the races for governor in Michigan and Iowa are the RGA's next-highest priorities.

"They're going to fight very hard for this seat," Crist said of Democrats. "We need all the support we can get in order to win this seat."

Underscoring the importance of Florida in the 2008 presidential election, Romney is the second national political figure to visit Florida in recent days to raise money in the governor's contest.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who was John Kerry's vice-presidential running mate in 2004, hosted a Davis fundraiser in Miami on Friday.

Crist will get another big surge of national Republican support on Thursday, when President Bush hosts a fundraiser for him in Orlando.

Crist said he has no reservations about standing side-by-side with a president whose popularity has slipped substantially because of the growing public opposition to the war in Iraq.

But his closeness to an unpopular president could undermine his efforts to win votes from independent swing voters in November.

"I'm not concerned with being linked with him at all," Crist said. "I'm proud of my president. I'm proud of the commander in chief."

Romney himself has a particular interest in making sure Florida remains in the Republican column, because he's running an exploratory bid for president and is not seeking re-election this fall.

The former Utah business executive who oversaw the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City has been traveling extensively throughout the country, building a national political network.

Romney's executive director at the governor's association, Philip Musser, was a top aide to Mel Martinez at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before Martinez left to capture a U.S. Senate seat from Florida.

One of Romney's likely White House rivals, Arizona Sen. John McCain, endorsed Crist before the recent primary.

But Romney said he was not raising any money for his own national campaign, known as Commonwealth PAC.

Of the country's 50 statehouses, 28 are controlled by Republicans and 22 by Democrats. But of the 36 governor's races that are contested this year, 22 are held by Republicans and 14 by Democrats.

"That's a huge challenge for Republicans," Romney wrote in a recent fundraising letter.

Steve Bousquet can be contacted at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 01:24:11]