Charlie Crist to run for Senate as Independent

The Miami Herald reports: Gov. Charlie Crist will launch a risky political career today as a "people's candidate'' for the U.S. Senate.

The official announcement is expected today at 5 p.m. at Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg where Crist will be surrounded by family members, friends, local supporters and an army of media personnel.

As a pariah in the Republican Party that has been vital to his success, the one-term governor who blew a 30-point lead in the Republican Senate primary is forced to run an unconventional race.

"I think the people are concerned about the future, and they're interested in having people who put them first, instead of politics,'' Crist said. "I think that's where they are.''

The announcement site in Crist's hometown is in his emotional comfort zone. But it allows him to present himself as an outsider who is critical of the way his fellow Republicans are running things in Tallahassee, even though he has been a fixture in the capital for 16 years, as a state senator, commissioner of education, attorney general and governor.

"I don't think it comes as a surprise to a lot of people,'' said Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, the House majority leader. "Charlie Crist has never been loyal to the Republican Party. All he has ever cared about is his own personal success and his own personal agenda.''

Said state Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who endorsed Crist a year ago: "If he leaves the Republican party, he has left public office. . . . It says more about the political opportunism of the candidate than it does about the party.''

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