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So, tell us about yourself, Mr. Crist

By ADAM C. SMITH
Published November 8, 2006

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Charlie Crist on Tuesday emerged as the newest, bright light of a beleaguered national Republican Party. Now the freshly elected political powerhouse in America’s biggest battleground state must put to rest a mystery.

Who is Governor-elect Crist? He's a national figure without any real identity, a winner with no clear agenda or ideology.

We know he can run a terrific campaign and raise huge amounts of money. We know he exudes humble sincerity and can charm people like precious few politicians. We can be confident after 18 months and $40-million of Crist campaign spending that he'll be "the people's governor," whatever that means.

Democratic Jim Davis with a stronger campaign than many expected, tried to draw out Crist, but with limited success. The Republican attorney general did leave some hints in his formidable campaign, and very quickly, Crist will start showing us who he really is. Some of the indicators will come early in his administration. Some came during his strong campaign.

Three things to watch

1. Who will he pick to surround him? Like his hero Ronald Reagan, Crist is no policy wonk who buries himself in minutiae. As attorney general, he retained much of the top staff of his Democratic successor, Bob Butterworth, and basically let them do their job.

Crist is a delegator, and whether he surrounds himself with campaign operatives, conservative activists or policy experts will profoundly define his administration. The betting is that Crist will reach out to a diverse team, perhaps including some Democrats.

"The biggest problem he could have is if he picks wrong on his staff, because he's going to need a very deep and deliberative staff around him," said former state GOP chairman Tom Slade. "I think he will be far more welcoming to a sophisticated team than Jeb was. Jeb was the boss, and everybody around him was there to get him coffee."
As early as today, Crist might name his transition team.

2. Whom will he disappoint? As a candidate, Charlie Crist raised big money from trial lawyers and doctors; the police union and privatized prison companies; the sugar industry and Everglades activists. He called himself "pro-life" but said he didn’t want to further restrict abortions. One might be able to campaign as all things to all people, but you can’t govern that way. Eventually Crist will have to take sides on a tough issue.

"That will happen as he formulates his budget," said Ken Plante, a lobbyist and former chief of staff to Bush. "But he’s got a way to go, I think, before he begins to upset people."

3. What issues will he plunge into? Many Republican leaders openly dismiss some of Crist’s major platform planks — doubling the homestead exemption, for instance, or forcing insurance companies to sell property insurance in Florida. If Crist pushes hard for some of the things he campaigned on, he could find himself with some early bruises.

After eight years of being dominated by Bush, many observers expect the Legislature to reassert itself. Where Bush often butted heads with the moderate Florida Senate, the more conservative House, led by the ambitious and charismatic Marco Rubio of Miami, is likely to be Crist's bigger challenge.

Then there are complex issues largely outside his control, such as the growing insurance problem. Crist campaigned promising to bring relief to insurance consumers, but that's no easy task.

"It will be interesting if Gov. Bush calls the Legislature up for that first week in December (for a special session on insurance)," Plante said, "does Charlie get heavily involved or not."

What did Crist do best in his campaign? 1. Worked harder than anyone. It started with Crist's relentless fundraising, dialing for dollars from the crack of dawn until late at night. Without the kind of national fundraising network that Jeb Bush inherited, Crist defied all expectations and blew the roof off Florida’s fundraising records. His primary opponent, Tom Gallagher, couldn’t compete.

2. Trusted his instincts. Conventional wisdom after 2004 was that Karl Rove proved Republicans win through micro-targeted voter appeals and mobilizing religious conservatives. Crist didn't leave his campaign decisions to high-priced consultants. He clung fiercely -- and smartly, since voters were more consumed with tax and insurance bills than gay marriage -- to the middle ground. "He has run an absolutely perfect campaign in my opinion," said

Slade, who said he doubts the social conservative vote is as strong in Florida as many Republicans have thought. Even on the final day of the campaign, while Rove scoffed about Crist skipping a big George W. Bush rally in the conservative Panhandle, Crist happily campaigned in the Democratic stronghold of Palm Beach County. On election night, Crist was all smiles while Rove, presumably, was not.

3. Deftly exploited opponents' weaknesses: Crist may be Mr. Nice Guy, but he's no wimp. He knows how to throw sharp elbows, whether it was keeping Gallagher wobbly by exploiting ethics controversies or pulverizing Democrat Jim Davis over missed votes or visits to Cuba and meeting with Yasser Arafat.

No question Crist takes the Governor's Mansion as much more of a mystery than Jeb Bush did. But Bush never had to campaign against such a stiff Democratic wind as Crist did. Facing an expensive class size mandate and a complex insurance crisis, Crist may find governing tougher than campaigning. But don't underestimate our new governor.

After all, he just rewrote the Republican playbook and won big.

Adam C. Smith can be reached at (727) 893-8241 or asmith@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 8, 2006, 01:19:14]